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This song was playing last night at our disco. Very poignant. By the time you read this, we are all home, there were a couple of social media posts yesterday, but no blog to round things off. here we are.

It was a very early start for all on Saturday. Everyone had packed their bags the night before, so after an early breakfast it was time to go.

This hits so hard. Life is unfair and desperately cruel. They go back into Ukraine and we go back to the UK. And we worry about them so much. We always say, next year in Ukraine? We will keep on hoping. We’ve offered some English lessons, they’ve said their door is always open. We will go.

Most of the children carried their blankets in the arms so they could snuggle on the journey. So lovely to see them giving warmth and comfort.

It’s a very long road journey with two border crossings. Leaving Poland and entering Ukraine. Both can take an age, but the children were so lucky and sailed straight through.

And the first group were home by 6.30pm. Which is fantastic. A smaller group had another 90 minutes travel on in a mini bus. But home too. Fabulously reunited with family.

We won’t forget them and we know they had a wonderful time. Some light, freedom, happiness, childhood We will see them in Ukraine. One day.

Thank you SO MUCH for the part you played. Such a huge team effort to get these blankets to the children and their families. And we didn’t stop there. VAST amounts of cutting Christmas fabrics, that was massive, but so appreciated by the children and their teachers who could craft too

We saw huge boxes of our donated torches and power banks too. Opened one just for the pic but didn’t want to get more out. Great to think of the very practical support they will all give. It was an incredible response again. So huge thanks.

Thank you too to the incredible team at the CCLL. We tag along and observe at first hand the astonishing good they do. Tirelessly striving. Astonishing people. Thank you.

And that as they say is a wrap. But we carry on doing what we can. Check this out……. Let’s go again. THANK YOU!

https://www.woollyhugs.org/2025/09/21/chernobyl-2026-is-here/

We received a truly special leaving gift last night but need to put it into context for you. We are fully emotional about this. Some of children have come on this trip from a town called Borodyanka. And this is central here.

Borodyanka was hit particularly hard by Russian attacks, suffering the most massive destruction of any town in the Kyiv region. The situation in the now liberated city was utterly devastating.

The destruction of residential buildings in Borodyanka, about 50 kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital, is significantly greater than in other towns in the Kyiv area. Fierce fighting broke out in the small town of 13,000 residents right at the start of the Russian invasion.

It became a symbol of resilience during the russian invasion after a photo of one of the houses in Borodyanka went viral: despite the flat being almost completely destroyed, a kitchen cabinet on the wall survived. Upon closer inspection, a decorative ceramic maiolica rooster was noticed atop it.

The kitchen cabinet with a rooster, which survived the bombing and remained on the wall, became a symbol of fortitude and perseverance. A meme appeared: “Be as strong as this kitchen cabinet” It is also mentioned as a symbol of the indomitable Ukrainian spirit

And this is why these replica ceramic roosters are such a significant gift. They are rare and only made in the original place. We feel so honoured to receive one. Truly special, beyond precious. During our last three visits, we’ve seen this resilience and fortitude reflected in every Ukrainian child and adult we’ve met. Remarkable strength. Astonishing hope.

Unbelievably we have reached our final day with the children. After breakfast they settled down to some crafty crafts

When suddenly

<jingle bells>

<jingle bells>

HOHOHO!

FATHER CHRISTMAS!!

He came with a bag of little presents and a chocolate selection box for each child. And while they knew that it was Michael there was an adorable sense of suspended disbelief amongst the youngest!

There was a break to pack suitcases before more dancing and games. Including the Mummy Game!

Enormous fun, leading into the concert. Beautiful singing and entertainment. Which included much audience participation and much hilarity.

Time for our party tea! We had a pizza delivery, true luxury and enormously exciting! You may have seen our earlier post as we set up the tables. It was as Festive as a festive thing!

All over far too soon. It’s been such a joyful week, full of joy, laughter, friendship and happiness. Hugs and tears, we will see them at breakfast, but it felt like a good bye tonight. Lots and LOTS of selfies.

So the children went off to bed, will they sleep? Possibly, a lot of excitement to see families, pets and just be home. But deep sadness it’s over. Hopefully some sleep will be had it will make tomorrow easier.

We set about packing all the resources and equipment into the coach.

Our last night here. We’ve said this for the last three years, but next year in Ukraine? Oh how we hope. So much.

Such excitement! It was McDonald’s Day! An opportunity to go and gather and chill and chat over McDonald’s for lunch. The scene could not have been more ordinary yet for our Ukrainian friends this is wonderful and super exciting! So so happy for them to have this time.

We all needed a good walk after that! And it was lovely to stretch our legs and walk across Lublin to Jarmark Lubelski, which is a crafting/activity type centre. The children had a great afternoon with organised activities, games, pizza making and a wonderful drum workshop. The staff were fabulous, really engaging and the children loved their second lunch!

During this time, we loved talking to the English teachers about the peculiarities of the English language. She was saying the children adore using superlatives, currently ‘awesome’ and ‘gorgeous’ and we were saying how much we love using the words ‘amazing’ and ‘delicious’ She said that English is so rich in words and often it will just translate back to the same word in Ukrainian. We were also telling her that by inserting the word absolute in front of any noun made it an insult eg You absolute prawn! She was loving it. Most of their opportunity to listen to English spoken by native speakers comes through online platforms like YouTube which just isn’t the same as people on front of you. Even if that is us!!

Such a fantastic afternoon! And the fun didn’t stop here. We grabbed a spot on the Ukrainian children’s coach to travel to Lumina Park

It was dark by the time we arrived at the beautiful Botanical gardens in Lublin to see their annual festive lights display. It was based largely around a theme of Alice in Wonderland this year and the displays were stunning! The children loved the luxuriant lights, stopping to take photos of each singular  light it seemed. They were so keen to share with their families back home. A gorgeous way to spend an evening.

Then back on the coach and back to the hotel. It had been a busy day and unsurprisingly a lot of the children fell asleep. 

We did too!

Just finished helping pack the van tonight for Ukraine. Amongst all the humanitarian aid are all our blankets going to children in Korosten and Borodyanka. Also added in is the rest of the fabric strips and metal wreath bases so that the teachers can repeat the activity with more children. Every strip is going to be used! We’d hoped to be able to extend the activity in this way and reach more children. Everyone’s cutting was relentlessly epic and made it happen! Thank you again. They will be driven over by the wonderful Roman. Safe journey to him. He leaves here at 2am on Friday morning. There is an optimum time for arriving at the border, and a 2am departure will mean he makes this. He goes with our love.