Nigel Watson does something about it...

The reason I got involved with the Ukrainian situation is that I found it hard to sit at home in the warm drinking my coffee watching it all unfold on the TV. It could be the UK it was happening to.  I was in a church one Sunday evening when the Ukraine was mentioned and just like that I knew I had to do something to try and help them somehow.  After the service outside the church I phoned a Bulgarian friend of mine, in Bulgaria, who had delivered aid to the Romania/Ukraine border and asked where the most help was needed. He said at the Isaccea border post.
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Contact Nigel [email protected]  or phone 07788 728503

Coming Clean

So, a long story short, I got on Facebook, the County Press, etc. and started collecting donations. I set up a collecting point in a church park in Sandown, Isle of Wight. Within a few hours I had enough humanitarian and animal food to fill my small works van twice over and £1,000. I couldn’t believe the generosity of people so concerned about people 5,000km away they don’t even know. Four weeks later I put my work on hold and headed for 4 weeks (which turned into 4 months) in Ukraine with £3,000 and my van and top box loaded with food and clothes. Eventually donations amounted to £9,500. My journey took me 7 days through Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Hungry and Romania with a two day stopover in Germany to see my son. My original route was taking me through Moldova into Ukraine but i was strongly advised en route not to, due to having to pass through Transnistria, a Russian held part of the country. I diverted then towards the Black Sea and the border crossing at Isaccea. A ferry takes you over the river Danube into Ukraine. l arrived in Isaccea  late evening and met some American, Danish and Canadian volunteers working in a tent providing coffee and snacks to arriving traumatised UKR refugees, they introduced me to a Romanian guy, Petru, who did runs across the border via the ferry in his van. So we teamed up and did a couple of runs in his van with supplies provided by a massive Romanian charity. I worked at the coffee tent and did some carpentry jobs at the border for two weeks, a treat to sleep in the refugee tent instead of the van, lol. I then left for Odessa on the Black Sea coast 180 miles away on my own. I was determined to take my van-load where it was really needed and dropped the food and clothes at a distribution centre in an underground car park and the  animal food at a vet’s. I found a flat in the city and continued to buy my own food aid at a wholesalers and delivered it to dog shelters and villages in the Donbas, Mykolayiv and Zaporizihia. Both towns were being hit by dozens of Russian missiles daily and I saw lots of damage being done; just couldn’t believe what this Putin was doing to defenceless civilians in tiny, of no account villages. The hotel I booked for the night in Mykolayiv was no more when I got there - a missile had totally destroyed the main part. Funnily, I headed back to Odessa that night instead and got back just after ‘curfew’ at 10 pm. The gratitude and grace with which these people accepted charity was unbelievable. Sometimes smartly dressed people in orderly queues waiting for their one loaf of bread, a couple of tins of fish, couple tins of meat, noodles, a bottle of water, two candles and matches, etc. Having to accept charity for the first time... The hugs I received from broken women AND men brought me to tears many times. Especially wen I saw a totally broken old man, and gave him extra candles but he wouldn’t accept more than his share and said other people needed them more. I remember him shuffling away in tears. 
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Picture
14th April 2023

Reaching Out

Money donations continued to be put in my bank from the Isle of Wight population and my family and I was able to continue delivering for four months (with a three week self-funded break in the middle of having caught a virus; so drove to Turkey to see my son Tom working there). I eventually left Ukraine in September when funds ran out and headed home but the sat-nav took me the shortest route, as they do, and apparently don’t show if a suspension bridge has been blown up (extra 100 miles) lol. 

I got back to the Island to find, with my permission, Jan Dyer and Wightbay hotel manager Matt Colley were already organising the next fundraising event for my next trip . 

Next trip:

THE SHOEBOXES FOR SOLDIERS  Christmas appeal (to be continued) ​

See IW County Press review here
and also here for Moldova trip 2022.
Roger says:  Hello Nigel,
Will get to work on this. Actually have had to order new colour ink for one printer, and may have to order more keyboard stickers.
I have about 8 non-webcam laptops, slow to boot up but ok when I last looked. Glad for them to go.
Linux is the poor man's free Windows, but well regarded.  We put Linux on all computers we supply... over 80, last year.  See 
https://laptops-for-ukrainians.weebly.com/
When do you need them by?
Roger