After such wonderful and fulfilling days working with the Korosten team of volunteers the realisation that our Ukrainian “road trip” was in its last days brought on new, mixed feelings for me (Ron).  Usually after this long away I’d be well and truly ready to return “home”, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to leave Ukraine.  An “invasion” torn country, facing daily indiscriminate bombardments, and all kinds of other horrible traumas and trials thanks to their neighbour of nightmares.  What was I thinking!?

1Cor13:6-7 “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”   The injustices and evils inflicted on Ukraine during Russia’s invasion are off the charts, a clear abomination, much of which is documented and proven, and is why Putin is wanted by the ICC. There can never be any “if’s, but’s or maybe’s” to try and justify or excuse Russia’s invasion.  Even if there was a valid reason, which there isn’t, the Russian army’s acts would null and void it anyway.    Experiencing this country and its people during this awful invasion has grown a Love in me for Ukraine, and given me a clearer sense of the injustice (to put it mildly) of this invasion.

I now understand much better why I met so many “foreigners” who have ended up staying on in Ukraine much longer than they initially intended.  There really is something special about the people.  You can not help but admire and respect them on so many levels.

Planning our route to our next destination always entails some interesting considerations and options, and I must say that many memorable experiences occurred thanks to the freedom that Google Maps can offer.  We chose a route to Lutsk that looked like it would have good examples of rural and village life, it went quite close to the border with Belarus. 

Belarus has a pro-Russian puppet government.  Russia used Belarus as one of their launch points into Ukraine at the start of the 2022 full scale invasion.  Belarus did cop sanctions for this but sadly, especially recently by Trump, these are being partially removed.

The drive took us through beautiful examples of village life and some lovely forests.  It was obvious that most people still lived very traditionally.  We saw many horse and carts being used for transport and farm work and mushroom gathering.  Almost every house had noticeable food production of some type like vege gardens, orchids, animals and fields, earth cellars.  The impressive wood stacks and animal feed silage were evidences of the impending winter.

We were stopped at two checkpoints, unsurprisingly given our proximity to Belarus.  A policeman stopped us on a small rural road that we may not have chosen to take had we known its condition, but it was worth it.  Anyway he could not speak English, we had no phone reception for Google Translate.  He was obviously frustrated that he could not suss us out better, as you could see him thinking “Why would you go to Lutsk this way?”.  I tried to lay the blame on Google Maps.  Once he worked out we were Australians doing humanitarian work he noticeably softened and waved us on.

Lutsk was another very pleasant place.  But the university where Lara was to speak was especially impressive in many facets.  They were an old university but a very new medical school. They had a strong social justice bent and students regularly took part in fundraisers for the war effort. They had offered hundreds of free places at the medical school to students who had been displaced by the war or lost parents in the war.   Again, the students at Lara’s well-attended talk were super thankful, appreciative and grateful.  It was nice watching from the back of the lecture theatre as they lined up for selfies and hugs, I’m so very proud of my wife.  We were then taken on a tour of their very impressive medical school with some very deep and forthright conversation taking place.

Goodbye Lutsk, hello again Lviv, our last stop.  Lovely Lviv, where parking is an extreme challenge due to the lack of it.  Lara once again though excelled in finding an apartment that had “guaranteed” parking, an impressive achievement.  After all the travel the van looked almost military in its coating of grime.  “Official” handover of the van to CMA was tomorrow and we had to get it cleaned and the stickers applied.

 The young couple at the car detailing business insisted on doing the van for free when they found out we were volunteers and the van was a donation to Ukraine.  That is so very humbling.  This was not the first time we’d been shown favour or given free service by grateful Ukrainians.  Considering this is a country facing invasion, a country whose people are struggling even more now to make ends meet, I found it tough to accept this returned charity, but I think to push back too much may actually be insulting to them, so I always gratefully accepted.  The sticker design looked professional and was applied perfectly by the sticker man under torch and light.

The van was ready for handover and it looked wonderful, you would never know where it had been.  After putting an extra near 10 thousand kilometres on it since leaving Switzerland, and being able to experience and do so much because of this van, it brought a tinge of sadness to consider parting with it.  I cannot overstate the value of this van to CMA’s work, it will be a great blessing to them.  CMA sourced the vehicle, it had extremely low mileage for its age, it has great fuel economy, and ran beautifully the whole time, so well chosen CMA.  I am very proud and humbled that OPT was able to raise the funds for this vehicle and deliver it into Ukraine for CMA. 

We tied the van handover in with CMA’s strategic meeting.  It was a lovely time and a massive thanks again to all who donated to this fundraiser.  Be assured it is appreciated sincerely and immensely at CMA and should affect their work in many positive ways for years to come.  Being part of CMA’s strategic meeting was further confirmation and encouragement to me, OPT have certainly partnered with an effective and efficient organisation.

We got time to walk around and experience the old town area of Lviv, which I believe is UNESCO listed.  It is certainly a beautiful, vibrant city, it amazes me to think what it must have been like before 2022.  After Ukraine’s victory I highly recommend visiting. 

The next day Lara had more meetings with CMA.  I helped with the set-up of CMA’s “Soft skills Medical conference” which was to be held the following day.  The conference itself was well attended and received. Lara was one of three speakers.  Soft skills are important in effective medicine and Ukrainians especially soak it up as young doctors attempt to grow away from some of the hangovers of the less personal old soviet systems.

Our last full day in Ukraine saw us attend a church service held in a section of a waterpark, that’s a first.  We then went out for a late extended lunch with two dear friends for some very good food and conversation.  Besides talking about food a lot, which I love, I also appreciate that often Ukrainian’s conversations are deep, heavy, meaningful and thought provoking.

Our last morning in Lviv before we jumped on the train to Poland saw us attend a “prayer breakfast” meeting organised by CMA at a Baptist Seminary.  It was a meeting of many influential players in Ukraine, international NGO’s, etc?  It was heartening to hear what is being done for Ukraine by different organisations in different spheres.  But governments of most countries need to step up more.  We did feel partly like we did not belong, but it seems to me that Lara has become a welcomed, accepted and valuable part of the CMA team and they wanted her there, I on the other hand didn’t belong, but I enjoyed my last breakfast in Ukraine and the conversations regardless.

Russia had used “hybrid warfare” to blow up the railway line we were about to travel on in Poland a day earlier.  Thankfully there was another line they were able to use, and thankfully they had time to patrol all the lines just before we travelled.  Did I worry about our train line being blown up?  No.  Once underway it did not even enter my thoughts, but I did think again about the savage effect all these accumulated traumas, big and small, are having on the people.  This invasion needs to stop, Russia is doing it tough and will fail to reach their objectives, but we need to stand with Ukraine till this time.  Please don’t forget about Ukraine, even though our news cycle does.

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