He could no longer watch the images from Ukraine. So Carlo van Hout from Boekel left for the border with Poland last Sunday to deliver stuff there and to take refugees back with him. “I couldn’t keep it dry anymore.”
The past few days have been a roller coaster, Carlo says. “On Thursday the idea arose to drive that way by bus. From that moment on, we started collecting plenty of stuff. Pampers, wipes, cans of soup.”
And it didn’t stop with that one bus. “In the end, two more were added. Plus some extra volunteers, who apparently had the same feeling as I did. We drove to that station full of refugees in one go on Sunday. I have never seen so many people together. I wanted to go on a I showed a piece live on Facebook at some point, but I quickly cut it off. I didn’t keep it dry.”
And now Carlo is still recovering from what he has seen. “It was not pleasant. The worst are the small children, who are outside in the cold. We were able to give some of them some hugs. When you see those faces… That’s a lot of fun.”
Besides delivering the relief supplies, Carlo had another goal: to take refugees with him. This turned out to be more difficult than expected at first. “You don’t want to know how long it took them to believe we meant no harm. And every time we stop, they immediately wonder why. There’s so much fear in it.”
Nevertheless, it was ultimately successful in removing nine Ukrainian refugees from the area. “Seven of them go to Berlin, the other two to Borger in the Netherlands. We had already arranged housing for those people in advance.”
If it is up to Carlo, many more will follow. “I’ll be heading that way again on March 17. You know what it is? It’s within driving distance, so if I can do my part in that way, I’m very happy to do it.”