Amanda on board to help aid effort
Lochgilphead volunteer Amanda Duffy-Brown travelled to Eastern Europe earlier this month to support humanitarian work for people fleeing Ukraine - and communities still suffering in the war-torn country.
Amanda and Ardrishaig’s Nikki Thompson have been co-ordinating the Mid Argyll Helps Ukraine (MAHU) appeal for the past year but Amanda took the chance to travel to neighbouring Poland to help unload and distribute a coachload of aid.
Essential medical supplies, food, and baby boxes from the Scot Baby Box Appeal - as well as a plethora of other much-needed humanitarian aid - which left Scotland by bus, was unloaded in Warsaw for onward transportation to Ukraine.
The coach was run by the Global Food Train for Ukraine charity, spearheaded by fellow Scot Helen Will from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.
After flying from Edinburgh to Poland, Amanda got to work from day one at a distribution centre in the Polish capital.
She said: “Days one and two were an amazing insight into how the aid operation works ‘from the other side’, being involved in unloading big lorries.
“It was different from packing boxes and sending them, to actually be there to help distribute aid. The scale of the help Poland has given to Ukrainian people is well over and above what I realised.
“There are numerous charity groups which have opened their doors to help Ukrainians and it was incredible to see the network there that is available to access.
“It proved too difficult for me to go to Ukraine and come back to Poland in the time I had there, especially being committed to distributing aid at the centre in Warsaw.
“Being based mostly in Warsaw meant, though, that I could see the huge range of services available to people arriving from Ukraine.”
Amanda added: “The centre received a package from MAHU which myself or Nikki would have boxed with our own hands which was quite surreal.
“Boxes arriving were already earmarked for onward distribution, to where they had been requested.
“We also went out to places such as a women’s centre to drop off the baby boxes from the Scot Baby Box Appeal, where we were treated to lunch of traditional Ukrainian food, which was extremely kind.
“We also dropped off priority medical aid at another location, and it was important to have these face-to-face contacts as it is so different from packing boxes and communicating by phone or video call.”
Amanda then returned on the coach to Amsterdam and by ferry to Newcastle, where she helped Ukrainian settlers who had travelled back with the Scots, destined for the Central Belt, to meet their initial hosts, before making her own journey home.
Amanda reflected on her visit after returning to Mid Argyll.
She added: “It was overwhelming to be a part of the distribution effort out there and to see the enormous scale of the humanitarian operation that’s going on, both for working in Ukraine and for people arriving out of the country.
“It is not about me being there at all, but it will be valuable for our appeal to have networked with so many organisations, local charities, and people with good hearts doing voluntary work to help others who are in need.”