Evacuation Trip to Zaporizhzhia
March 23, 2022
On March 18th I got a few messages from Andriy. He and his small team were getting ready to leave for a trip to Zaporizhzhia to evacuate people. Andriy had just purchased 3 vans from families who were leaving the country and were willing to sell their vehicles for very cheap to support his evacuation efforts.
Andriy’s voice memo about that trip includes some details:
“We are going first to Chernihiv to provide assistance to families, kids. Food, clothes, delivering all kinds of aid. Then from there turning toward Zaporizhzhia, where there is currently shelling, where the front line is. People from Mariupol are fleeing to Zaporizhzhia. Please pray for safety, because just today they were firing on civilian evacuees in the humanitarian corridors, firing directly at civilian cars attempting to leave. Tomorrow we will be there, Lord willing. So we are asking for your prayers, that God protects us, as we are going into a very, very, very “hot” conflict zone. We will be evacuating people.”
As you may have heard in the news by now, Mariupol is the completely destroyed and blockaded port city where the maternity hospital was bombed, and where over 100,000 people still remain trapped without power, heat, food, water, and under constant bombardment. Andriy’s convoy of 4 buses transported as many people as they could fit, including 36 children. One family consisted of 4 generations, a great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and child. These photos capture some of that trip.
On the way to Rivne, they stopped for gas and food for the rest of the journey.
“What can I say, friends? There’s no greater happiness for people than simply getting to go to a “normal” gas station/convenience store and to have access to a public washroom. People who for 2-3 weeks have not been able to do this—use a bathroom in peace. This is what happiness consists of for people now…”
The families all had a safe place to stay in Rivne when they arrived and had a few days to decide their next steps. If they needed transport to other cities or to the border, Andriy’s team could take them.
Andriy and his crew plan to make another trip to Zaporizhzhia again next Monday.
