Report 17 – March 23, 2021

Featured Photo: We left Kyiv for Odessa early Tuesday morning

The next to last stop has now been made on this trip. We arrived in Odessa without any problems. The temps were cold and a cold breeze was blowing as we left the airplane. An interesting announcement was added by the flight attendant as we landed. “Please remain seated. It is critical for the balance of this aircraft that too many do not get up and stand in the back of the craft.” Now the reason is simple, you board and leave through the tail section. If too many line up to get out the aircraft becomes unbalanced and tips upward leaving the tail exit blocked! A good friend in VA, Tommy South, wrote me that he had seen this occur in one of his previous trips!

The container we shipped into Odessa has received Customs clearance. We are to go and load it into a truck at the Customs’ storage and then unload it at the Consignee’s storage. This is to happen in the morning. Right now we are looking at temps in the 30s and a 70% chance of rain storms!

The two containers for Ivano-Frankivsk that have been held hostage by Customs, are still not released. I am encouraged to report that we are getting assistance from the USA Embassy in Kyiv and from a number of contacts within Ukraine. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly.

All through Kyiv have been a number of protests by those who own small businesses. They have been forced to shut down. Many have no means of income. I have talked with some who say the lockdowns are a deliberate effort by the government to destroy personal initiative in the country. These claim that the government wants to control all businesses and set the prices and restrictions that are unchallenged. “If the government closes enough small business all that will remain are the big business who will rule over us with prices and restrictions on commodities that we can buy. We suffered that under communism and once again it is returning!” In the meantime, people are starving because “the government is looking out for their safety.” Today I heard Igor comment that many are willing to do any job just to earn some money to eat. He also cautioned me to be very careful as I go about because “these are hard times and if people think you have money they will do bad things.”

Thank you for your interest, concerns and prayers!

John L. Kachelman, Jr.
(Odessa, Ukraine)