Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘They asked why I was doing it - I said because I can, and I should’
A Whitstable man has spent a month driving 10,000 miles around Europe, transporting refugees from war-torn Ukraine to places of safety. Here, he tells Lydia Chantler-hicks of his experience...
Moved by heart-wrenching coverage of the Ukraine crisis, 57-year-old employment lawyer Francis Wildman decided to do something to help.
Save for a road trip through France many years ago, the father-of-four has never driven overseas.
But on March 5, he set out in his seven-seater Chrysler Voyager, driving 1,120 miles from his home in Whitstable, to Przemysl on the border between Poland and Ukraine.
At Calais, a customs officer asked him where he was going.
“What do you want to do that for?” was the man’s reply, when Francis told him of his plan to help transport Ukrainian refugees to relatives and safe places in other countries.
“Because I can,” said Francis, simply. “And I think I should.”
Arriving at his destination on the Polish border - a former Tesco store now used as a refugee base, which he had spotted numerous times on the news he went inside to register as a driver.
He was telling staff he was happy to drive anywhere he was needed, when a woman standing behind him asked “Italy?”
And within hours, she was packed inside Francis’ car with her mother and daughter, and three strangers desperate to reach the country.
Francis describes the atmosphere as they set off as “tense”.
“We hadn’t got very far, and I said ‘do you want some music on?’” he recalls.
“One of them said ‘yes’ but another said ‘not jolly music’, so I went for a ‘chilled out’ Apple playlist.
“And through my embarrassment, I kept just turning it down more and more and more, because clearly nobody really wanted music.
“I don’t know what you’d call it - tense, or depressing. It was not a nice atmosphere.”
After a long journey taking in treacherous, mountain B-roads and an overnight stay in a cheap hotel, the motley group arrived in Padua, northern Italy, at about 1.30am two days later.
After saying farewell to his passengers, Francis returned straight to the Polish border.
“The next journey was to Latvia - a grandmother, mother, child and a small baby,” he said.
“Then back to the border again, and this time three Ukrainian grandmothers to Portugal.”
Having clocked up 7,000 miles on his own, Francis headed back to Whitstable, to pick up his partner, Jane Darling, and a second-hand 17-seater minibus they had bought to make the journeys more efficient.
A mechanic friend removed three of the seats to make space for more luggage, and Francis returned - this time with Jane by his side - to the Ukrainian border on March 26.
The couple have since clocked up another 3,000 miles.
“We went to the Czech Republic, and then down to Barcelona,” said Francis, speaking on Tuesday evening from a hotel near Montpellier in France.
“Then across from there to Portugal again, where we dropped off people with their big dog - a Rhodesian ridgeback.
“And we’ve started heading back to the border again.”
The long, intimate car journeys require fleeing Ukrainians to place huge trust in the couple.
But through broken exchanges using Google Translate, meals shared at roadside fast food outlets, and nights spent sheltered at cheap hotels, they have forged friendships that could last a lifetime.
Francis and Jane have set up a Youtube channel where they document their trips.
One moving video shows a tearful young Ukrainian woman hugging Francis goodbye at Barcelona airport, saying in Russian: “You’re like a magic man.
“I hope the world gives you back much more than you gave to us.”
Free public transport is available for Ukrainian refugees to particular destinations in Europe.
But Jane, 54, explains: “The old, the young, the vulnerable are already exhausted and scared, and need taking directly to a place where they can rest and recuperate.
“If we were in this situation, there would be people coming over and doing the same for us. “It’s really rewarding. “We had this really lovely meal about a week ago, where we all got to sit down at the same table in a really quiet place.
“By the end, we feel like we’ve really made friends.”
The couple’s family, friends and colleagues have donated money to help fund Francis and Jane’s efforts, but donations have started to dry up.
“It’s costing more than £200 a day for fuel,” said Francis.
“If it’s just us two in a hotel then it’s way below £100 to stay pretty well anywhere, but if we’ve got eight, nine passengers and we’re putting them even in a cheap hotel, it adds up. And then they need to eat as well.”
The couple are appealing for donations from individuals and businesses, which will allow them to continue their efforts.
Jane added: “Many refugees aren’t in a position to help with travel costs and, to be honest, we’d prefer not to ask them.
“The more contributions we get, the longer we’ll be able to continue doing this.”
To donate, visit www. gofundme.com/f/n3434u-because-we-can.
Visit the couple’s Youtube channel at bit.ly/3uefexz.
And through my embarrassment, I kept just turning it down more and more and more, because clearly nobody really wanted music...