In the above photo (viewable if you click the link to go online) I am in the office of the Commandant of the Police Academy of Zaporozhye, Ukraine. Nicholi was called out of retirement to serve once again as the Commandant.
The bus ride from Kherson to Zaporozhye was not quite 9.5 hours (we made it in 9.45!). We were to have ridden in one of those large highway busses but the one we were to take broke down so they ran a mini-van in as a substitute. The problem was that there was absolutely no luggage storage—all you carried was on your lap or in the floor next to you. And with a 9+ hour trip there are passengers along the way that are picked up and they have luggage. So the luggage pile gradually multiplied until there was a mountain in the front and the back. Every time the bus stopped the mountain in the front had to be moved so passengers could exit the bus. The greatest fear in this situation is the condition of a 64 year old bladder…I recall parental directives to my children as we would get ready for those long trips on holidays, “Limit liquid intake!! Void bladders before getting into the vehicle!!” The best part of this 9+ hour trip is there was no bladder explosion!
Upon arriving in Zaporozhye we were greeted by Alexander and he provided the planned schedule. We are set to meet with several groups that have received the benevolent items sent. We are set to meet with several government officials who are interested in assisting our efforts.
Monday morning a very good friend (Nicholi) was introduced as the Commandant of the Police Academy in Zaporozhye. Nicholi had held that position previously but had retired in 2014. He was sorely missed and agreed to return to his position. He administers the Academy in an excellent way and has the respect from all I know. He has been of great assistance in my efforts in a number of ways. When a container arrives in Zaporozhye there is made available a special volunteer block of time for cadets to come and unload the container (when those 550 lb beds are shipped these young backs are really needed!).
Nicholi is interested in visiting and learning from the USA Police policies. If anyone reading this would be interested in discussing this possibility please contact me!
We visited the Afghanistan Veterans association. There are several groups of these and today I met with two groups that have about 1,000 members. These former military are in need of a number of items and especially for physical therapy and rehabilitation. They expressed frustration of how a simple request for a wheelchair or diabetes meds can take years to be considered and then years to be answered. The crutches and walkers and wheelchairs we ship are invaluable.
At another meeting I met the Vice-Mayor of the town of Bergdansk (located in Zaporozhye Region but 3 hours away from where I am located now. This is a town of 120,000 but it has seen 20,000 IDPs swell the population. Some of the surrounding village hospitals and clinics have closed so now they add another population 140,000 to the healthcare roll. One positive thing that this location has done is they replaced all of their hospital beds last year with new manual beds. But in replacing all of the hospital beds they need linens, mattresses and other basic items.
Our Consignee in Zaporozhye is “Veterans of Chornobyl” and they are superb. They have been eager to assist any one in need. Today as we visited in their office I was shown a list of area hospitals that requested “just 5” hospital beds (they could use 50 times that many but they will not ask for such a great number).
Tomorrow is already scheduled with more meetings!
Thank you for your prayers and concerns on this mission trip.
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Zaporozhye, Ukraine
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