By Parasuram das
We left London on the evening of the 22nd of December and just avoided the border patrol strike the following day. Driving took us through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland and finally on Christmas Day we crossed into Ukraine and arrived at our Lviv kitchen. Crossing the border on Christmas Day was a good idea as it usually takes 16 hours but we crossed in 1 hour.
The weather was grim, it rained non stop and a freezing wind was howling.
Yesterday we drove through the city of Lviv, there was no electricity in the whole city, no traffic lights, nothing and I am not sure if running water was available.
So today we finally reached the city of Mykolaiv, a broken city, most houses had no windows, with bombed out buildings everywhere. People were struggling in the bitter cold. As we entered the city the sirens were wailing, an air strike imminent
Our centre had its windows boarded up. A team of 12 dedicated crew were keeping the kitchen running. We gave them essential kitchen equipment, food, plates and most importantly a generator. Generators are impossible to buy in Ukraine, Poland and even in England they’re hard to find. We also bought them a van, a Renault Traffic.
Tomorrow we visit the Mykolaiv food distribution program at 10pm, then we are off to Kherson.
