Most retired people would use their golden years and retirement fund to settle down or travel the world – but one couple from Trawden have thrown themselves into the middle of a war.
Fiona Hancock, 59, and Robert Paliwoda, 67, have been delivering aid in some of the worst hit areas of Ukraine, after the invasion of Russia last year.
They have witnessed the horrors of war, even dodging shells, all while delivering aid and educating the children that remain in the country need.
Fiona said: “At the beginning of the Russian invasion we were watching the television and growing more and more horrified by what we saw.
“After witnessing the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, we thought ‘we have to do something’.
“Bob was already retired and I was working as a social worker so we were in a position to be able to do something.”
From there Robert and Fiona established Trawden For Ukraine, where people can make donations in order to support Robert and Fiona as they deliver aid.
All money will go towards donations and helping people in the country.
People can also donate items to the charity, which will be taken to Ukraine by volunteers and then delivered to the more dangerous locations by Fiona and Robert.
The couple estimate they have delivered 30 tons of aid so far.
After initially helping at refugee camps in Krakow, Poland, the couple moved to Ukraine in June 2022 as they felt the people there needed the most help.
Robert and Fiona said they have had some scary experiences in the Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Fiona said: “Kherson is one of the most dangerous areas. It is regularly shelled and completely unpredictable.
“You can be delivering aid and it’s completely quiet and then all of a barrage of shells are falling all over the place and you don’t know where they are going to land.
“We once visited an apartment block and a shell landed so close that we had to dive for cover, which was terrifying.
“That is what people have to endure here all of the time.”
Robert said: “It is like a ghost city at times. People drive so fast to avoid the shells.
"Russian aircraft lights up the sky and at night and we see drones being brought down.”
“I am always on alert,” said Fiona. “You can’t be scared all of the time as that would be completely disabling. When I hear a shell exploding 100 metres away that is always going to be scary.
“You just do what you can do, you dive to the floor and seek shelter.”
Robert said it breaks his heart to see the children here and says their childhood has been taken away.
He said: “You can see they will have trauma from this. They are losing their childhood, it is heartbreaking.
“Some have never attended school as there was the pandemic and then the war broke out. It is too dangerous for some to go to school.”
The couple said they never would have imagined they would be spending their retirement in a war-torn country but said the people here needed help.
Robert said: “Last March if someone would have told we would be dodging shells right now [we wouldn’t have believed them].
“But people are living in awful conditions. They have no water, there are broken windows yet they are still over here – so why shouldn’t we be trying to help them?”
The couple say the people of Ukraine are in desperate need of donations.
Incontinence pads, pillows, blankets, disinfectant, camping stoves, sleeping bags, wet wipes, medication, children’s activity packs are some of the most needed items.
Items can be donated to Chorley and District Support for the Ukraine, more details of which can be found on Facebook.
To make a monetary contribution you can donate to their PayPal at trawden4ukraine@hotmail.com .
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