Barry Joins the Christmas Convoy

International Vice-President Barry joined the great German Round Table Family Christmas Parcels convoy taking gifts to children in Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and of course Ukraine. He joined up with the team in Hanau meeting up with old friends and many new ones. Amongst many others met up with Bob Parton and Gisela. Bob is the oldest person on the trip (I'm sure he won't mind me saying it) but he has been on the convoys for many years. This is Barry's diary.

Day 1: 2nd December. This is a huge enterprise and this year we have collected 132,606 parcels which have been split into 30 lorries with 12 coaches full with around 230  helpers, elves and santas mostly from the Round Table family. I am on the trip to Moldova, which I have been on before, and we have 3 coaches, 67 people, 7 lorries and around 30,000 parcels. The day before we set off we all met for a pre-tour party and a briefing, under the guidance of the wonderful CEO of the Weinachtspakchenkonvoi (WPK for short), Steffie Hahl.

Day 2: 3rd December. We're off! First stop was Passau in Southern Germany where the local Ladies Circle had prepared a well needed meal for us. Soon we were off again facing an overnight journey via Austria, Hungary and into Romania. The journey nearly ended that night as we had left all our passports at passport control but fortunately the last lorry in the convoy picked them all up for us. Weather is a bit bleak with a temperature of around 3 degrees but not much different from home.

Day 3: 4th December. Not a lot of sleep overnight on the coach. Mixture of excitement and all wanting to talk to other helpers. Arrived in Romania and after several "pit stops" had a restaurant meal with wine near Brasov, where I met up with old friend Jianu Aurel. Great to have a catch up with him. Not far to Moldova now.

Day 4: 5th December. Arrived in Moldova at 6am and managed to get a couple of hours sleep in a bed. I'm rooming with Rolf Scheifele who is great company. Soon we are back out to meet up with the media and the Government Minister in charge of schools and social welfare. Some very good and welcoming speeches and lots of media attention Particularly for the three of us who look like Santa. Me, Santa Bob and Santa Rolf. The rest of the day we spent splitting up the convoy with 10,000 parcels transferred from two of our lorries to two other lorries who are bound for Odessa in Ukraine. It's really rewarding to be part of this bit with so many parcels ending up in the hands of Ukrainian children. After all our work during the day it was back to the hotel for the night, but not before a Kazak meal out together.

Day 5: 6th December. Today is our first day delivering parcels. 8 of us travelled in a mini-bus for a couple of hours south to Comrat, which is not too far from the Ukrainian border. We delivered parcels to 3 schools. It was wonderful to see the smiling faces of the children as we handed out the parcels. Some parents came out with papers saying they had children although we never saw them! A bit chaotic as some of the time we were handing out parcels from the back of the lorry in the streets. We were housed in a nice hotel with good food an a bit of time to enjoy the fellowship.

Day 6: 7th December. Today was much better organised and very busy. We visited 7 schools and kindergartens, many out in remote areas, and were able to hand out parcels and in some instances watch them open their presents. Once we got within 5km of Ukraine. The schools all did some entertainment for us with singing and dancing and we were able to join in singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. What a wonderful day. Our final visit to a kindergarten finishing at 5-30pm before travelling for 2 hours over very rough roads back to the capital, Chisinau, and the hotel.

Day 7: 8th December. Throughout my time in Moldova our trips to schools have been organised by Moldova Round Table and friends and in particular Nikolai, who has been with us all the time. He has organised how many parcels should be delivered at each point and the timings of our visits. He has done a wonderful job and it just proves that Round Table and its family members are of the same mentality wherever you are in the World, selfless and prepared to give time to help others whilst at the same time always up for fun and fellowship. Today we travelled south of Chisinau to deliver our remaining parcels to a number of schools and kindergartens. Once again we were able to witness some of the difficulties these families have in many areas of deprivation. The smiles though told us the picture of the warmth they showed us for what in reality is a very small, but much appreciated  gesture.

Day 8: 9th December. Our job is finished, we have started our journey back home and it is time for a bit of reflection, This is the 4th time I have been on this trip and each year it gets more amazing. Steffie, the CEO, and her team alongside the many volunteers on the ground from the Round Table family put together a brilliant logistics operation. The number of parcels to collate and package, the number of vehicles both for the parcels and the helpers, the various visa requirements for travel through the different countries, the local organisation for hotels and in particular with the schools and kindergartens. Local Tablers and Rotary clubs in Moldova, Romania and elsewhere have helped with much of the local organisation. The bulk of the work of Round Table has been through the family organisation in Germany. We have a lot to thank them all for. I leave Moldova with fond memories of the school visits, the children and in particular the disabled and disadvantaged, the warmth of their reception and the many friends I have known or met before and the number of new friends I have met this time. 

It makes me proud to be involved, it makes me proud to have been a member of Round Table and subsequently 41 Club and it makes me very humble to be the International Vice-President of 41 International.

May I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy Christmas wherever you are in the world and I leave you with this photo which sums up my trip with the Christmas Convoy.