The Dnipro Trip - A tale of Four Cities - Mark’s Story

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My memories of our recent trip to see the Bairns of Dnipro….

Part 1 – The Build Up

Things really start to feel they are coming together when Babs (Barbara MacDonald, fellow committee member) and myself withdraw the funds we intend to take over to Dnipropetrovsk. Ira, our team member out in the Ukraine has finally managed to get the ‘shopping list’ together for us, with the main priority being the purchase of 50 or so pairs of trainers for the kids at the orphanage we have recently taken on. Cash in hand I head’s off to JJB and World of Sports and after negotiating a 10% discount, 50 plus pairs of training shoes are loaded into my car.

Stevie and I had pre packed five of the six cases a few weeks previously. Donations to the Appeal have been kindly stored by a good Hibby at this charity store facility in Pilton and five full and one empty case have been sitting in my garage the last couple of weeks as we top up the Hibernian strips donated by fellow Hibby’s in the last of the cases.

The Sunday before we travel, we revisit the cases, taking into account the newly arrived trainers. After hard work, a lot of weighing on bathroom scales and a number of repacking attempts by the committee in my conservatory, we finally agree that we will travel to Dnipro with two cases of brand new kid’s trainers, one of Hibernian strips and scarves, and three full of baby clothes.

We agree that the additional tracksuit bottoms, shoes, baby clothes and soft toys will follow to the Ukraine with the Tartan Army in October, escorted by committee member Colin Dudgeon.

The Night before Day 1

Scotland are winning in Lithuania on TV as we get ready to for the trip. Stevie crashes at Mark’s place due to the early start, ensuring the spare room gets a much needed tidy up. We retire early with the thought of a 4 am start praying on our minds.

Day 1 – Its only 24 Hours to Dnipro…….

The taxi arrives to collect us at 4.30 and it’s off to the airport. In the first of many interesting and good people we will meet on our trip, the driver tells us of his admiration for what we are doing and how he no longer gets Christmas presents, him and his wife donating everything to charity instead. He charges us the minimum, refuses a tip and wishes us well.

We are nervous about the over all luggage weight. Whilst the excellent Czech Airlines have upped our allowance, we have relied on bathroom scales to estimate our total baggage weight. We needn’t worry as we are pretty accurate with our cases and we wave them a relived goodbye, as they are checked through to Kiev, our late afternoon destination.

Coffee for brekky and we climb aboard the airplane relived to be on our way. Stevie and Alix have both done the independent trip to Dnipropetrovsk before; Mark had not and he is looking forward to it with some trepidation. The flight to Prague is uneventful other than to comment on the excellent service provided by Czech Airlines, and the first of many ham and cheese rolls we would eat over the next five days.

Change at Prague and on to Kiev, where we have the second round of ham and cheese sandwiches and where things begin to get a tad more frustrating. One hour to get through Immigration, we collect our cases and head through to arrivals via customs who wave us though without any hassle, where we meet Ira, our local hero. Big hugs all round and off we go to collect some Hrivna from the cash machine and head for the council bus to Kiev Train Station where we plan to dump the cases in lost luggage and go for some food in Kiev. As we are loading the cases onto the bus, Mark notes that we have one case that does not belong to us!! It’s the same colour and make as ours but a wee bit smaller. We unload all the cases off the bus, and Ira and Stevie head off to face the wrath of Ukrainian customs, as Alix and Mark stand ignoring every one talking Russian and Ukrainian at us. Luckily someone is having a tantrum with the customs officers and the case switch is relatively painless and off we head to Kiev.

On arrival at the train station we stick the cases into left luggage, which happen to be in the basement with no lift or escalators! With the baggage dropped, we jump into a taxi and head off to the first of a few trips to the ‘Fat Belly’ Ukrainian Buffet for lashings of local scran, which fails to total a tenner for four people.

We walk off our hearty dinner by heading to the main square of the city. It’s an impressive place, the city centre not unlike Paris or Barcelona in buildings and layout. We pick up some souvenirs, grab a quick pint in a bar and head out to the train Station to meet the lady in charge of the Bear Child Clinic, Pam, who is returning from a trip to Prague and Krakow with her daughter and son.

Onto the train at 23.00, armed with a few beers, water and juice, and a couple of Scooby snacks, we settle down for a brief Midnight team meeting about the agenda for the following days and a round up of the finances before crashing out on the bedrolls and bunks, made up by the surprisingly domesticated Mr Carr, in preparation for an early start the next morning on arrival in Dnipropetrovsk. We won’t mention the sanitary facilities on the train other than to say the word ‘boak’ comes to mind every time we think about them.....................