Chaam sympathizes with Guido van Engelen. Immediately after the war broke out in Ukraine, the entrepreneur fled to the village where he grew up and where many of his family still live. A number of family members even took part in a relay race on Sunday that raised more than 6,200 euros for De Leeuw Kyiv, a foundation that Van Engelen has set up in Ukraine.
“I am here with mixed feelings”, he reacted at the finish of the participants of the Run for Ukraine, on the crowded Raadhuisplein in Chaam. Van Engelen thinks it is sad that actions are needed for the innocent victims of the war, but he was of course happy with the support and especially the donated money.
Fled immediately after raid
Van Engelen settled in the Ukrainian capital Kiev in 1995 and became a successful real estate entrepreneur. Immediately after the invasion of the Russian army, he got into his car to escape the violence of war and return to his mother’s womb. He has been living with his parents ever since.
Yura Ansems got along with it all, sympathized intensely and wanted to do something for Van Engelen. She likes to run and that is how the Chaamse came up with the idea of organizing a relay race last Saturday. With a historical starting point: hotel De Wereld in Wageningen. Here the surrender of the German occupier was sealed on 5 May 1945 and the Second World War formally ended.
Ansems really does not have the illusion that with her sporting event she could change the mind of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hotel De Wereld was especially familiar to her, because she once raised the liberation fire with Loopgroep Chaam. So no accidental location.
Flag of Ukraine as a relay baton
Early on Sunday morning, a group of residents of Chaam went to Wageningen to take the same road from the hotel, but in the other direction. This was done in relay form in which the participants, mainly women and some of Van Engelen’s relatives, alternated walking or cycling. The blue and yellow flag of Ukraine served as an alternative baton.
“We were happy to do it for Guido, really a boy from Chaam. He already liked the idea and reacted emotionally to the proceeds,” Ansems says. Van Engelen agreed, but immediately said that it is terrible what is happening in Ukraine. And that the money comes in very handy to be able to organize the logistics surrounding aid transport in particular.
“Earlier than anyone else, after the outbreak of the war, we the foundation to pick up and ship goods. Much is needed for the people who have been left behind, they are combative, but also fearful. Where I lived,” says Van Engelen, “the damage is still unimaginable, but I’m holding on to what will eventually remain. Expect the worst, hope for the best. Hope gives life, but I fear the worst. It can change every hour, that’s how skeptical or pessimistic I am. That war there is as unreal as it is medieval.”