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Convoy 'Wrap up' report (otherwise known as Borders and Balderdash, part two)
Tuesday 13th April 2010 - It still doesn't get any easier!
As often happens, events during the convoy seemed to overtake the 'pen', or should I say the 'fingers and keyboard'!
We all got back to the UK, one way or the other, on Thursday or Friday last week. Having had at least 6 weeks of convoy preparations and then convoy, which left precious little time for anything else, Bev and I dreamt of a weekend off………….but then spent all of Saturday and Sunday morning clearing up 'Robin Hood', rounding the day off with a wonderful sunny afternoon's gardening!
Looking back to the convoy preparations, and then to the convoy itself, we had more than our fare share of challenges to cope with this time, yet again! Our airborne volunteer numbers dwindled between the January Briefing and our departure date, such that our funding commitments for the HGV's are going to be 'tight', and BA cabin Crews and their unions did their best to add to our worries. Malcolm and Elaine had to drop out because of Malcolm's overdue hernia op, but we're delighted that he's now recovering and they are looking forward to joining us again as soon as they can, and Mike had to drop out of the flying crew at the last minute, also because of illness, but again we understand he's recovering well and we look forward to seeing him again soon.
We had been considering going onto Albania to assist recent flood victims, after finishing in Kosovo, but that plan was dropped because in the few weeks before we departed, a good deal of international support was sent to Albania from many other countries around the world in the form of goods, as well as financial support.
In our run-up to the 'off', here in the UK, monumental efforts went into obtaining special Phytosanitary Certificates that the Serbian Authorities had required when we took food from the EU into and through Serbia last October, and which we knew they would insist on again. Before I tell you why our efforts turned out to be nothing more than an exercise in futility, let me explain what we had to go through to get them………try to picture the scene……….
*The Certificates, which are official EU documents, can only be obtained from DEFRA in York.
*DEFRA normally require 7 working days to receive and test samples of the food, and issue certificates.
*We had been donated (generously) 7 different batches of rice, as well as flour, from 3 different donors in different parts of the country; each batch required a certificate.
*Samples have to be sent by post to DEFRA, who test it in their laboratories before issuing the certificates to state that the food is wholesome (with appropriate technical assurances).
*The flour samples were obtained without too much problem, and forms were filled out and sent with them. Certificates were awaited.
*The rice samples were a tad more complicated…………These could not be obtained or released from the donor warehouse until the full load was collected, because it is a fully automated storage facility, and……….well it simply wasn't possible………
*So…..Thursday, 8 working days before departure of the 'big rigs' - the second of our big trailers that we were going to use to collect the full load, had to have a last minute MOT test (for reasons beyond our control) It failed!
*Friday, 7 working days before departure of the 'big rigs', after mechanical adjustments had been made, it failed again! Contingency plans to include fully unloading the already loaded other trailer, so that we could use it to collect the rice, and then send off the samples, were made, but late Friday pm, the guys at the SITA garage who do such a fabulous job to look after the trucks, called to say they had identified a faulty air valve, and a new one was being delivered urgently for Monday……
*Monday, 6 working days before departure of the 'big rigs', another MOT re-test was scheduled for 3pm. The part arrived at 10am, but would take two hours to fit, and another hour to test……hoping that it was the solution……….4pm, it passed!!
*4.15pm Monday - Dave left work in Bristol and drove to the garage (yet again) to get the truck and drive it to Slough; at the same time, Roddy was already making his way, in anticipation, from Fife in Scotland, to Slough by car, so that he would be able to drive the truck to Asfordby in Leicestershire ready to collect the load first thing on Tuesday morning.
*Tuesday, 5 working days before departure of the 'big rigs' - Jeff from Kegworth met Roddy at Asfordby where they loaded and strapped down all the pallets, Jeff having first foraged to obtain food samples from the 7 different batches of rice - then a race to complete the 7 application forms and get them in the overnight post to DEFRA in York…….the contingency plan was for Jeff to drive them there, but he made the post with 15 minutes to spare.
*Wednesday, 4 working days before departure of the 'big rigs' - all samples received at the DEFRA premises, and thanks to their great support, the Labs were processing them already. Roddy had taken the truck back to Slough, and was now on his way back to Fife.
*Friday, 2 working days before departure of the 'big rigs' - all 9 Phytosanitary Certificates received, and the trucks were at last ready to go…………errr……well not quite….
*Saturday. 1 working day before departure of the 'big rigs' - a call from the normally unperturbed Dave from the warehouse in Slough, to say that the other Unit and trailer had no lights down one side! He had driven it from Swindon to Slough to be ready for early Tuesday departure, and had spent the last couple of hours trying to find the fault, but had blown 3 fuses - no choice but to drive it back to the garage near Cirencester, and to try and contact the guys there to get it urgently sorted out on Monday……another new part needed, but all sorted late Monday.
Saturday 27th March…….and so, on now to the Serbian side of the EU border………12.30pm, the main convoy are driving across Germany, when Roddy calls, 'there's a problem with the DEFRA certificates'………wait for it……..the rice product description was not written in Latin, something about genetically modified food, oh, and there is no such country as Kosovo, the destination is actually Kosovo, Serbia! More hugely costly international phone calls backwards and forwards to Consuls, Ministers, Embassies, the Foreign Office, and DEFRA who bless them were working on a Saturday, and despite it being a different department, revised certificates were produced and emailed directly to the 'doctor's office on the border……….well you've guessed it by now, nothing we did was going to be satisfactory………you can draw your own conclusions. As a result of more phone calls and a considerable raising of the profile, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture equivalent in Belgrade were sent to the border at midnight, and samples were taken off for more testing, 100 miles away!
Sunday 28th March……3pm, the test results came back with the all clear……..but there is still another test to be done!!!.........and 'you must wait until tomorrow'……..another day completely wasted……….eventually, at mid-day on Monday, the results came back clear, and 'Mr Flibble' was allowed to continue it's journey…………meanwhile…
Monday 29th March - the main convoy had arrived at the Hungarian side of the Serbian border, at the usual Tompa crossing point. 'No we can't let you continue' you must take all your papers on foot to the Serbian Customs, as you may have a problem getting in'………..why?........... 'because your stated destination is Kosovo'!......so Paul and I left everyone else in Hungary, while we walked a third of a mile across to the Serbian side, and presented our papers………..sure enough, it was a problem……….. More costly phone calls to Consuls and Embassies, and UK government officials, and of course more delays, but an agreement that we could add the word Serbia in brackets, after the destination Kosovo. We waited patiently for an approval document with a Serbian stamp, to confirm that we could depart the EU, because we had to prove to the Hungarians that we had been given permission to enter, and then we walked back to Hungary, completed the EU exit formalities, and lead the trucks onto Serbia…
……but there was now yet another problem …………what started as an issue with taking sewing machines, wheelchairs, and other sundry goods, (all of which of course we've been taking for years) then focussed entirely on the value of each truck load as stated in our documents. We quote a nominal low value, as we have always done, because all our aid is donated, and because we do not, and could not pay import duty, but it was explained, most courteously, that the value must be much higher, so that if the goods do not arrive at their stated destination, then the Serbian government will be able to impose a heavy fine, based on that value, not on us the charity, but on the Spedition company who do our papers (for a fee) but who effectively guarantee that our goods will reach their destination; based on our valuation, the fine would not be big enough! 'You must open all your trucks, and we must value all your loads'…………but you must wait for two more hours until the Customs shift change has taken place!........well by this time on Monday evening, the glorious sun had gone down, Paul and I had traversed the parking compound at least a dozen times, while the rest of the crews had enjoyed soups, and other delicious refreshments at the ringside café. At last, the shift change took place, and with stated apologies by the new man for the need to go through what clearly was a totally unnecessary process that would incidentally incur us more cost for the new seals that would have to be applied to our trucks that we would have to pay for, all trucks were opened and 'examined', and new valuations were reached ranging from 1200 Euros, to 1500 Euros per truck….we exited the compound at something like 10pm on Monday evening!
Well, so much for the journey, the rest of which has been covered in previous reports.
In Kosovo, the situation continues to confuse and confound. Many new garages, road side motels, and blocks of empty flats, with a continuation of the road building programme, and a very evident hint of what I'd call 'dirty money', yet the contrast with the appalling poverty becomes even starker. The 'have's' and the 'have not's'. Those lucky enough to have a job paying up to a princely 200 Euros a month, and those without! …. And the rubbish; was it me, or was it worse than I've ever seen before? It seemed as if a wind had blown all the country's rubbish up in the air, and settled it over every inch of the countryside. We drove down a road that to my pleasant surprise had a civic amenity site for rubbish collection, but there was more rubbish along the miles of road side, than there was inside the site! Surely a countrywide clean-up campaign would help everyone feel better and more like wanting to be there! Pride!
The distributions, and arrangements in-country, and all our 'special drops' and visits to friends and our personal projects, all went well, in no small measure thanks to the efforts of all our MTS (Mother Theresa Society) friends, all our local reps and other friends in Kosovo, and indeed the terrific efforts of everyone in our team. I was delighted to recognise 'Emran', the now grown young man who as a confident young lad had so enthusiastically thanked the people of England on camera for us back in 2004, but saddened to see that he is still living in the barracks in the 'shadow' of the Plementina power station towers. Emran helped us a great deal with the 91 family Roma drops that we did at Plementina.
I want to just refer to one other incident that had an effect on me, and about which surely someone in the Political arena should care? I and the 'Robin Hood' team were distributing aid to a Roma community in Fushe Kosova, on the outskirts of Pristina. A reasonably well dressed man stepped forward and tried to speak to me with a few words of broken English, and pulled out of his pocket a single sheet of paper. It had an official stamp, and I quickly recognised it as a repatriation paper. His name is Fatmir Ajrizi. He was born in Kosovo, and he is now 35. He hadn't lived in Kosovo since he was taken to Germany by his parents at the age of 17. He has now been made to return (forced repatriation) from Norway (he also mentioned Germany) and was very keen to show me where he was living. I agreed to go with him after we finished, and he waited very patiently. When we arrived, we found a house of brick that had been built by his late father in the early 90's, but was never finished. His father died in the 90's. The house had no kitchen or bathroom, indeed nothing other than brick walls, concrete and rubble floors, and a tiled roof; no electricity, windows, or doors, and it has clearly been used by animals in the intervening period. Fatmir has been sleeping on a piece of foam covered by a single blanket, and his smart travel suitcase stood beside it with all his worldly possessions contained therein, (which were actually just a few other clothes). He has lived in Germany and I think Norway for 18 years. Having become used to western European living standards, it was clear that he had simply no idea how to now live on nothing!
I was shocked, and I suspect you will be when you view the photographs [attached]. He showed me a photograph of himself taken previously, looking smart and well dressed, and despite his relatively smart clothes, the difference was 'worlds' apart. He was desperate for me to help him get back to Germany where he had been forced to leave his girlfriend and his children, but the best I could offer was to get his message to MTS to properly investigate his circumstances, and to try to raise his plight, and that of so many others who are being forcibly repatriated from Europe. I have no wish to accuse, or to pass judgement, but I'm told that many thousands of similar repatriations are being made to Kosovo, daily, and weekly, from across the EU, sometimes with promises of being met and looked after at the airport on arrival. Just yesterday Wednesday 14th April, Germany and Kosovo agreed on the return of some 14,000 former refugees, yet the Municipalities and our friends in MTS are overwhelmed and totally unable to cope properly with assistance for all of these 'human beings' who are largely being consigned to an existence on 'nothing'!
…….and so, the 'Politics' of the world continue to degenerate, the 'shame' of the world continues to astound, and the poverty gap gets ever wider!
Charles Storer
Co-founder and Head of Operations
Hope and Aid Direct
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