The weeks of Emmeke

The day I arrived with my kids in Romania, the day after the war in Ukraine had started, Wilfried de Moor and Johan Kruithof called me; two Dutch entrepreneurs in Poland and good friends of mine and Kees.

Both have strong ties to Ukraine and know the country well. They immediately realized that due to the invasion of Russia there would soon be a shortage of all kinds of things on our farm and in the village. The idea was to collect aggregates for our company and environment.

The same day a group was put together based on places where collection could be made, in the north, south and center of the country and Arno and Lesia Klijbroek joined as well. They had had to leave their trading-company in Kiev behind and offered to organize the transport and export to Ukraine. A call was distributed through our networks. The planning was to collect for two days and then drive a truck from the south to the north of the Netherlands to pick up all the stuff.

Naive

How naive we were. Putin's invasion caused a huge shock among all Dutch people, evidenced by the enormous demonstrations throughout the Netherlands. And the willingness to help was enormous. Our call quickly went viral and what came at us in those days was beyond our imagination. There were traffic jams in front of the collection points and people waited patiently for hours before they could drop off their belongings. Everywhere people spontaneously offered their help when they saw that the crowds also overtook us. Instead of 1 truck, more than 10 trucks were loaded that first weekend and left for Poland to be sorted and transferred there. Of course, these now no longer only drive to our farm, but to all kinds of places in Ukraine where they need specific things.

Donations

Meanwhile, more than 40 trucks have gone there with all kinds of useful items: generators, water pumps, medicines, medical devices and surgical instruments, mattresses, clothing, food, baby food, diapers, first aid kits, flashlights, night vision, radios, batteries and you name it. but on. In fact, two trailers with 4x4s from the Netherlands, England and Poland have already gone that way through us. And not unimportant, almost everything that people donate is of high quality, which really helps us in Ukraine.

Foundation de Leeuw Kyiv

Our organization was soon supplemented by other Dutch people from Ukraine who were forced to leave their lives there behind. We came together in Stichting de Leeuw Kyiv. A foundation that was normally associated with the Dutch School in Kiev, but is now engaged in financing the transport of all these goods to their destination in Ukraine. Generous donations have also been made to this, in such a way that we are now assured of a stable transport line, also for the future. Because as long as this senseless war continues, the shortages will also increase. Especially in places where the large aid organizations cannot (or cannot) come or have no people on the ground, and that is where our great strength lies: With the large (farmers) network that we have in Ukraine and the many local contacts, we can get things in Ukraine where they are needed most and our local networks ensure an appropriate distribution.

Grateful

We are extremely grateful to everyone who is committed to us and Ukraine and we hope that you will continue to do so in the future. Because even if the war were to end soon, your help will still be needed to rebuild everything that Putin has destroyed.

On behalf of all Ukrainians, thank you very much for your help and care. We won't give up and hopefully neither will you.

Slava Ukraine!