This trip, ride 22, was organized by Keep Them Warm, with 11 students from Leiden University and 4 students from the Dutch Filmers Academy in Amsterdam. Next to all the goods for humanitarian aid, loaded in 3 big passengers busses and 1 big transport bus, there was also a bit of film equipment that went along. The students of the filmcrew accompanied the trip to make a documentary to create awareness of the situation for humanitarian help that is still needed. The focus of the filmers was to show how important and appreciated work all volunteers can do just with delivering goods and taking Ukrainian refugees back to the Netherlands. Next to the precious help, the trip can be fun as well.
And it was. This group of people who helped was very diverse but also really the same. We all had different interests of study and hobby’s, but we were here with the same goal: to make a joyful trip and help people. With the positive energy there was no fuss and everyone was happy to contribute to this good cause. We drove fast and we had a cheerful stop in a lovely city of Poland, Wroclaw
On the second day we arrived at Przemysl at the Ukrainian-Poland border. We settled an unloaded all the four busses at the distribution center right near the border. This night we had a good dinner in the city of Wroclaw. We drank some beer on a good mood for the next day.
The third day we visited the ‘The Hope Shelter’. Ukrainian refugees are waiting here to be taken to another European country. It was impressive to meet the people who’ve lost their homes and could only have hope on a better future. The whole afternoon we drew, played and danced with the kids. We ended this day on a happy thought to drive back to the Netherlands the next morning.
In the 3 passengers busses we took 17 refugees with little children with mothers, a single teenager, women and a single man. We did our best to maintain a good atmosphere and create some bright spots for those who needed it. We’ve laughed, ate dinner at the McDonald’s and slept in a hostel in Magdebrug. For the first time in a long time, the Ukrainians had a good night’s sleep. The next day we arrived at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, the place of the national shelter for Ukrainians. The Ukrainians go to other shelters from this place. This was the time to part our ways with the Ukrainians. They were very grateful for our help and there were some hugs and tears. After the goodbyes we brought back the cars and ended our trip with some beers at a local place in Hilversum. We evaluated the trip and shared some last experiences and emotions together.
We hope the Ukrainians are safe and quickly find a place in Dutch society. We are thrilled to show the documentary with you and hope this will recruit more volunteers for humanitarian aid, because it is still very needed.
