Blog by Stephen Byrne, Tuesday, 7 September 2023
“Max (not his real name for safety) is a true hero in Ukraine, risking his life defending his country, challenging the evils of the Russian invasion. Below is a message he sent to the Jeeps For Peace team, reminding us of the importance of the work being undertaken by overseas volunteers and showing solidarity with the Ukrainian people”
Hello everybody! Friends, I recently returned from the war zone where I handed over the cars with which you are helping us in this difficult time and I saw joyful emotions, I saw the gratitude that I want to convey to you from a place that can be compared to hell on earth, these are such places when you come there the only desire that covers an ordinary person, is to get out of there as far as possible and as quickly as possible. Тhere in the clear cloudless sky, you can hear the sounds of thunder, the ground constantly shakes from explosions, unfortunately, all my friends whom we visited and who received your cars, and other help that was inside, do not have such a choice to go from there, because they realize that if they go from there, the evil will follow them and will bring destruction, death and suffering further and further, and the only way to stop this evil is to constantly risk their own health and life to destroy and stop it at the place where it was already stopped.
At this moment when I write you this message, I have a heavy burden on my soul, because although I saw the happy faces of my friends, I would even say brothers, who were happy to meet me, we even managed to organize a barbecue and share a very delicious dinner, during which everyone listened intently to see if anything was flying in our direction, although we behaved very quietly and dispersed all the cars in different places so as not to create a crowd and not be a very obvious target, but it is difficult for me that these people stayed there, they have been there for a long time, their children grow up without a father, many generally lose their parents, their wives, their parents wait every day for any news from them and even a small smiley sent to them gives them relative peace for a short time.
What you do for them is very useful and valuable, even when you just come to Ukraine, it is already a sign of support, but you also bring pickups full of gifts for them, pickups that I assure you have already saved and will save more than one human life, as well this time we also brought an ambulance, the benefits that will come from it cannot even be described, because it is clear that it will do a huge job. I convey to you my sincere thanks from all those boys, their families, doctors, from every Ukrainian, and I assure you that we greatly appreciate your efforts, care, your time, and the sincerity with which you help us. Although everyone in Ukraine now has only one dream, that peace will come to our land, unfortunately the bloody war continues, and its end is not in sight, but the great happiness is that despite the fact that the war dragged on for a long time, you do not tire of supporting and helping us, it is really important and necessary for us, because they want to destroy us and we are fighting to exist, and when we are fighting against evil that is much bigger than us, it is very important for us that we had friends who take care of us. You all repeatedly gave us faith to believe in miracles, because the majority did not believe that such help could be expected from people who simply give without expecting anything in return. I thank you for the fact that thanks to you I am also involved in these good deeds, which as I can already see will only grow.
It is always difficult to find the words to thank you, because your help is so great and essential that there are no words. So I’m waiting for the moment when we meet again and I can shake your hand and personally thank everyone. I would really like for us to meet as soon as possible, but the reason would be to celebrate the victory of good over evil, and you would come to Ukraine where there is no war, visit our interesting places, enjoy your stay without fear that missiles might fly. So see you my friends.🇺🇦🏴🇬🇧🇺🇸🤝
A Big thank you to our sponsors
