“HUMBLING AND HARROWING”: KEN PHILLIPS JOINS NIGHTINGALES UK ON HUMANITARIAN AID MISSION TO UKRAINE
The Head of Harris Lamb’s Residential Land team has played an important part in an ‘eye opening’ humanitarian aid mission to take essential medical supplies to Ukraine.
Ken Phillips joined Dan Halton of Nightingales UK to drive a 4×4 to Uzhhorod, where it was collected by partners of the organisation and taken to Dnipro to transport soldiers and distribute medical aid to hospitals throughout the country and to the frontline.
The Devon-based organisation, which was launched on Ukraine Independence Day in August 2023, is made up of volunteers dedicated to providing medical aid to hospitals and, where possible, directly to the front line, something Ken was very keen to help with.
Dan (left) and Ken setting off from Surrey on their delivery mission.
Ken said: “The work that Nightingales UK does is absolutely vital. With the majority of its volunteers being senior medical professionals, the organisation has established close relationships with Ukrainians and have previously supplied medial and humanitarian aid to hospitals in Kharkiv and Uzhhorod, cultivating trusted contacts there who can get to the front line.
“The team is committed to sourcing 4×4 vehicles to transport aid and soldiers, which it fills with medical supplies sourced from a whole raft of donors, then delivers to Ukraine.
“I’d put my name down as a volunteer some time ago and was called up a couple of weeks ago to accompany Dan as we delivered the group’s 11the vehicle, a 20-year-old Mitsubishi Shogun, filled with medical aid to Ukraine.
The three-day drive saw us stop en route in Netherlands and in Prague, Czech Republic, continuing through Slovakia and Hungary.
Arrival in Prague.
“In Uzhhorod, we handed over the vehicle and medical aid to the group’s contacts from Ukrainian charity 1 and 1 – Already Not Alone, who drove it and its contents back to Dnipro to be checked and prepared to be used for medical evacuations at the frontline. We then travelled to Slovakia and flew home,” he said.
The vehicle handover in Uzhhorod.
Meeting Ukraine refugees in Prague.
Ken said that the whole experience was humbling and harrowing.
“There are terrible things happening everywhere in the world, but nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed with this experience. The volunteers we handed over the vehicle and supplies to had travelled 1,600 miles by train from the heavily bombed area of Dnipro to meet us in Uzhhorod before driving the 1,600 miles back to deliver the aid. It was a humbling, harrowing, eye-opening experience that will stay with me.
“The conflict in Ukraine seems to have almost fallen off people’s radars with so many other concerns and tragedies, but it really brought home to me what is happening there day after day, and the incredible work Nightingales UK and their partners are carrying out to provide support,” he said.
Ken said that Nightingales UK, which has now delivered 12 4x4s filled with supplies to Ukraine, is seeking further vehicles to step up its operation.
“The organisation is actively seeking 4×4 vehicles near the ends of their lives that can be stocked and used to continue to make these deliveries. They don’t need to be in great condition, but they need to be roadworthy with a few weeks’ MOT to enable them to be used for humanitarian purposes.
Tribute to the fallen in Uzhhorod.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to do this again. For those who think, as I did, that if the conflict comes to a swift conclusion there will be no need for such endeavours, I’d correct them, as I was, and say that even when this does ends there will be a huge amount of rebuilding to do and support to help Ukraine back to its feet.
“Seeing it first hand has really put things in perspective for me, and I will be ready to step in again if and when Nightingales ask me to,” he said.
Anyone who can donate a vehicle to the cause should email nightingalesuk@gmail.com.
To find out more about the organisation and show support, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/Nightingales-UK.
