Kharkiv is alive, thanks to its people and in spite of the war. Last month we visited the city to bring vehicles and relief supplies. The human side of the work is perhaps what we add most. The coffee is still better than ours, but in the favourite coffee place there is a bag of tourniquets and pressure bandages on the wall where a defibrillator would hang in the Netherlands. People are holding on. They want to, and they have no other choice.
HackerHotel 2025 gave us the chance to explain how we help the people of Kharkiv from the Netherlands, and of course to raise funds. The talk by Roman and Niels was recorded and can be watched online. It gives a clear picture of the situation there, of the work during evacuations and after shelling. It puts a face to the news about Ukraine. That does not make it easier to take in, but it does make it more human.
The Dutch healthcare magazine FMT Gezondheidszorg published a fine interview with Ruben Hoogenberg of Almeva and with Ron and Niels. Faced with the commitment of Almeva and all the ambulance stations, modesty suits us. Their help is part of why the medics there can save lives. We regularly get messages from families or from the people themselves: small scale help is warmly welcomed and ends up in the right hands.
Just before Christmas we gratefully received word that Stichting Aid to Ukraine has been granted ANBI status, the Dutch designation for a public benefit organisation. It lets donors and the foundation itself make use of several tax advantages when giving and receiving gifts. The government chips in, so to speak, and that is very welcome indeed. The RSIN number you need for your tax return is 866916556.
One of the volunteer groups is building a new vehicle for transporting the wounded, in practice a van pressed into service as an ambulance. It is done simply, but by people who know what they are doing. Through Almeva we arranged a good stock of consumables: tourniquets, infusion sets, intraosseous drills and gauze.
This Land Rover Discovery has been checked over by the mechanics at Bas4Cars and we are taking it to Kharkiv loaded with supplies. Alongside the vehicle we are bringing a fresh stock of trauma supplies and practical items such as generators and IT equipment.
Roman spoke at Hack42 about life in Kharkiv. People have organised themselves in order to keep going. Together with some 250 others in the ETOC foundation, Roman arranges relief supplies, helps out after shelling, carries out evacuations and keeps the city running. It is striking to hear how much courage and energy it takes when your city is under attack, how much all help is valued, and how badly it is needed. We can barely imagine it, and at the same time it is very close to home.
Thanks to the mechanics at Bas4Cars, two more Land Rovers have been checked over and are ready to leave. In Ukraine the ETOC volunteers use them for aid work and evacuations. It is hard to think of a more useful job for them.
Roman teaches mathematics in Kharkiv and volunteers with ETOC, the organisation we work with closely. Everyone in the city pitches in. Roman is in the Netherlands to collect a vehicle loaded with supplies, and has time to talk about what is happening in his city and in his community. The evening is hosted by Hack42 in Arnhem, a hackerspace that has contributed to our work for years.
Thanks to Almeva and the ambulance stations working together, we can send pallets of trauma supplies to Kharkiv on a regular basis. In return, colleagues at the ambulance station in Kharkiv sent us the sliding door of an ambulance riddled with shrapnel. It is now on display at Almeva's new premises in Almere. In the Netherlands we work behind the same kind of doors, which makes it striking to see.