As many relief goods were donated, we decided to make a relief trip to the Ukrainian border. We only had three days, but we thought that would be enough, as we had no other appointments than the delivery of the goods at the Ukrainian border in Radauti.
This time the cargo included food, washing powder, clothes, baby food, diapers, mattresses, toys, as well as other useful things. The journey from our first stop in Budapest through Transylvania to Radauti in Bukovina took about 15 hours. When we passed the city of Cluj Napoca in Romania, we stopped at the Austrian OMV gas station to refuel both the car and ourselves. The reason for this is that these gas stations certainly have WiFi (internet access) and we can read our emails and WhatsApp messages. This was a good thing, because Tanya asked us to buy Hydrocoll burn patches at the last minute in a pharmacy.
We continued our journey, looking for the sign “Farmacia” – pharmacy along the main road in every small and even big town. In the small pharmacies we bought a whole supply of plasters, as they did not have many in stock. When asked why we need so many plasters, we answered that we export them to Ukraine. New weapons have been introduced in warfare, which is why many soldiers suffer burns while defending. When they heard that we were going all the way from Vienna to Ukraine to help the Ukrainians, the pharmacy went into an uproar and the staff started collecting more donations. We received a lot of relief supplies, including bandages.
As we drove through the small town of Gherla, just before we reached the town of Bistrita, we saw another sign for “Farmacia”. Here we met a very nice and cheerful pharmacist who told us that a year ago a German aid worker had passed by and bought medicine for Ukraine. He assumed that we were Germans too. When we explained the purpose of our trip, we were given a 10% discount on Hydrocoll patches. After shopping, the pharmacist asked us to wait and went to the warehouse. A moment later, he returned with a large box and a cart full of vitamins. “That’s not all – please don’t go,” he shouted and rushed back to the back room. A short time later, he appeared behind the pharmacy counter with another cart full of painkillers. We were speechless at this extraordinary encounter and this miracle of multiplication of pharmaceutical supplies! Fortunately, there was enough room in the car to load the large box. As we thanked him, said goodbye and offered blessings, the pharmacist replied: “Thank you for allowing me to help the Ukrainian people.” We were touched by this extraordinary encounter and knew that we were in the right place at the right time.
A hot morning dawned in Radauti and as planned, Tanya and Stefan arrived at our hotel around 9:30 am. We had breakfast together, exchanged news and the men set off to load the relief supplies onto Stefan’s car. Despite the heat, the load moved briskly from one car to another. We learned that everyday life in Chernivtsi has become more difficult as the nearby power plant was hit by rockets, so power outages are commonplace. It is hard to plan your life as you never know when there will be power and when there won’t. Routine activities such as doing laundry, cooking or working on the computer are no longer a given. In the apartment buildings, the elevators do not work and it is very difficult to get down from the 10th floor to street level to get to the essential shops – especially for people with reduced mobility.
We were grateful that we could once again be like a window to “normal life” for these friends – even if only for a brief moment.
Hannu & Anne Ylitalo
(End of June 2024)