Day.2　June14th. PM Medyka-Lviv

After finishing lunch at McDonald's, we went shopping. I procure baby food and diapers requested by a welfare facility in Livne. The VAT rate in Poland is currently 23%, 0% (!) on food until June 30, 2023, and 5% on medicines. and 5% for medicines. Ukraine's VAT rate is 20%, 8% for medicines and 5% for food. Basically, ABW holds its cash in pounds, so it is not affected by the exchange rate (as much as the Japanese yen). Therefore, it is more economical to purchase food and medicines in Poland. I have learned firsthand that it is necessary to have this kind of financial perspective in aid activities that transcend national (monetary system) borders. First, the first supermarket. The first supermarket had a wide variety of products, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Second supermarket. A wide variety of household goods. First, look for baby food.

The package is in Polish, so use Google Lens to translate.

A wide selection of fresh food is also available.

Simon, big as a bear, holding baby food is cute.

Go to the diaper rack.

After securing baby food and diapers, we headed back to 84 at one point, where Travis worked on organizing Warehouse 89 and switching out the van's cargo. We take a break and have a quick word for the afternoon's activities.

The next shopping trip is with Travis. It is cheaper to buy fresh produce in bulk from a Cash & Carry, or cash wholesaler.

I asked the clerk for more onions. However, not all Polish people speak fluent English, so I negotiated with a familiar English-speaking clerk. Normally, photography is not allowed in this area, but when I asked if I could take a picture for the record, he readily agreed. He readily agreed.

When I bought a handful of fresh food, this is what I got. He said, "There's not much here today."

After loading our luggage, we finally arrived at the border checkpoint.

We line up in the traffic jam.

This is where we realize why Simon bought rolls of waterproof paper from the sign shop in the morning, and why there was a huge printer at 84. If we were to wait in this line (nearly 200 cars in line at this point), it would probably take us five hours to get past the checkpoint. I want to shorten that time somehow. The words "humanitarian aid" were prominently displayed on all sides of the vehicle. We, the crew, are wearing yellow fluorescent vests. We were allowed to cut into the convoy with our so-called "cause. The printer and the roll of paper were for that purpose. The printer was needed for another reason: In early March of 2022, there was no way to get the word out to the displaced people flooding into Medyka. So Simon quickly hired a sign maker to create a signboard. With just a few simple words such as "Buses here," "Trains here," "Food here," and "Clothing here," the confusion was dramatically calmed down. He then obtained a large printer and conveyed the visual information to the evacuees and volunteers.

While it is important to "solve problems" to deal with the current situation, Simon's strength lies in his ability to search for the causes of the current situation and "solve problems" to "prevent the current situation from happening" at the same time. Simon's strength is his rationality. With a little ingenuity, things can go in the right direction.

This photo was taken just before entering the border checkpoint (on the Polish side), as it is forbidden to take pictures of the border. We handed our passports, documents with the reason for entering the country (an activity plan and personnel list for humanitarian aid activities in Ukraine), and documents related to our cargo to the inspectors, and then we were processed for departure. The cargo and crew are carefully checked to ensure that they are as declared. The passport and documents are stamped, and the passenger proceeds to the entry procedure into Ukraine. Passport and documents are handed over again to the Ukrainian inspector. The departure and entry procedures are less than 10 meters apart, but beyond the border is Ukraine, and signs and signs are in Ukrainian. The cargo and passengers are inspected and their passports are stamped. The entire process of entering and exiting the country takes about 40 minutes.

The Japanese government has asked us to refrain from traveling to Ukraine, so we would (probably) not be able to enter the country for tourism purposes. Because of this situation, I, as a Japanese citizen, was able to enter the country relatively smoothly by having my documents in order to participate in ABW's humanitarian aid activities.

Upon entering Ukraine, I saw a long line of cars waiting to leave the country for Poland. After about 5 minutes of driving, the view widened and I saw some houses.

In April and May of this year, WDRAC raised funds through a crowdfunding campaign to replace its overused vans and to rent a warehouse in Ukraine. For safety and security reasons, we will not specify the location of the warehouse, but it is an abandoned warehouse located about 15 km from Medyka. The road is not paved, which would certainly cause the transport vehicle to break down soon.

Although it needs to be repaired and maintained, it would function well as a simple warehouse. If supplies are transported and stockpiled from the Medyka to this warehouse, and if the warehouse is used as a starting point for further expansion of supply centers in Khiu, Herson, and Halkhiu, a supply network for evacuees and those in need will be efficiently developed. The biggest challenge in assisting evacuees from Ukraine is the "last mile," or the network to deliver small portions of necessary supplies to where they are needed. I heard that there is a UN warehouse in Krakow and a Red Cross warehouse in Moldova. Although relief supplies have been accumulated at each of these warehouses, no system has been established to deliver "just what is needed in just the right amount" to the evacuation centers spread out across Ukraine like a net. Why is this? Because it is war. The first reason is that it is risky for volunteers to travel by vehicle in a situation where they do not know when they will be attacked. Even if the suburbs of cities such as Lviv and Keaau are covered by an air defense network of anti-aircraft missiles and bombardment by cruise missiles is reduced, it does not guarantee the safety of the support activities. This is not a task that anyone can easily undertake. The second reason is that the actual number of evacuees is not yet known. Public facilities (schools, libraries, hospitals, and town halls) can be used as evacuation centers, a situation that also occurs in Japan during natural disasters. However, in Ukraine, there was no function for local governments to manage evacuation centers and keep track of the number of evacuees, as is the case in Japan. During our activities this time, we visited four evacuation centers, all of which were led by local residents and did not keep track of the number of evacuees. This is because it is common for people who were there yesterday to leave the evacuation center today and move on to the next one. This event made me realize the difference between a natural disaster, where one has a place to return to and recovery and reconstruction can begin if one stays there for a while, and war, where one's safety is not ensured until one leaves the country after being deprived of a place to return to.

After previewing the warehouse, we headed to our next destination, Rivne, by driving north on the E40. The distance from Medyka to Rivne is about 300 km, which is the distance between the Yoga Interchange on the Tomei Expressway and Nagoya Station. It is not a well-maintained "highway" like the highways of Japan, but a "freeway" with a speed limit of 70 mph (112 km/h). The peaceful rural scenery continues for a while.

The roads are straight and the weather is nice and we occasionally encounter wheat fields all around. Yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. The yellow of the wheat and the clear blue sky.

We stopped at a gas station along the road and took turns driving. We knew that not all of Ukraine was a war zone. In fact, as we drove on and on through the region, the tranquil atmosphere made us forget that we were in a state of war. The price of gasoline (diesel) is about 210 yen/liter in Poland and 170 yen/liter in Ukraine, so it is more economical to buy food in Poland and gasoline in Ukraine.

We continued north on E40 and arrived in Rivne, where we would be staying today. As soon as we enter the city, the air raid alarm goes off. The sirens are blaring. People stop for a moment to look at their phones and start walking as if nothing happened. No one runs out and heads for the bunker, and no one shows any signs of panic. Cruise missiles are almost always shot down because of the anti-aircraft networks in place, and the location of the attack can be predicted with a high degree of certainty, so once people realize that the missiles will not come to them, they return to "normal operations. It is like an earthquake alert for those of us living in Japan. It is probably the same way that we are no longer surprised when our smartphones display an alert that says, "30 seconds later, epicenter 50 km off the coast of Chiba Prefecture, intensity 3, magnitude 4.1". Nevertheless, it was scary. I was driving, and I was so scared that I didn't have time to take any videos or photos. We went to the center of Livne to eat. I found a steakhouse near the hotel on Google Maps and took a break. 300 hryvnia (UAH) for a 300 g ribeye steak, or about 1,200 yen. When Simon and Travis found out that I could not drink, they said, "Okay, I'll leave the driving to the hotel to you! I'll leave it to you to drive me to the hotel!" and downed a large mug of beer. The menu was in Ukrainian, and as usual, I used Google Lens to translate it. The waitress barely understood English. Come to think of it, we have not encountered any Asians since we entered Ukraine. A group of four young men at the next table, the waitstaff looked at us (me) as if they were curious.

When I left the steakhouse, it was completely dark. Very few signs or street lights were lit. I was told that the power supply was unstable due to an attack on the power plant and that rolling blackouts were still in effect. Many people were moving around in the darkness. After a five-minute drive, we arrived at the hotel. After 10 minutes of ringing the front desk bell and saying "Excuse me," a manager-like man finally appeared and checked us in. The room is spacious enough for a double bed. I turned on the TV for the first time. I have no idea what the TV is saying, but I understand that there are shopping, news, and animation programs on. The news program, in particular, was telling us about the places that had been hit by the earthquake today. I take a shower, crawl into bed, and quickly fall asleep.