Dozens of boxes are stacked on top of each other in a warehouse in Vught. Everything has been gathered to help the people of Ukraine. Friends Oleg Babych and Bosschenaar Sjoerd Meijers are busy with the final preparations. Then they leave, with a bus full, towards the border of Slovakia and Ukraine.
Dozens of volunteers, together with Oleg and Sjoerd, are still sorting the last items in the shed on Sunday afternoon. Boxes full of food, clothes, medicines: everything is neatly arranged. In the meantime Oleg and Sjoerd are walking back and forth. “Let’s load the small backpacks first,” suggests Sjoerd. Together they lift the things one by one into Oleg’s bus. He is grateful that so much is being done. “My friends are still in Ukraine. I’m glad we can help like that. It’s very important that they get good stuff.”
Oleg now lives in the Netherlands, that’s how he got to know Sjoerd. The two have been roommates for a while. “Oleg has a large bus, so we quickly came up with the idea of bringing things with it,” explains Sjoerd. “We hand over the stuff to a group of women,” says Oleg. “They can still get to the border, the men in Ukraine are not allowed to do that now.”
Sjoerd adds: “Friends of Oleg have indicated what they all need. The women ensure that it ends up in the right place.”
The border crossing where Sjoerd and Oleg bring the stuff is close to Lviv, where explosions have already been heard. Yet Sjoerd is not worried. “We don’t know exactly how long it will take, but I can see it. I’d like to do something to help.”