Aid Convoy
Encyclopedia
Aid Convoy is a British
charitable organisation running and supporting various humanitarian aid
projects, mostly in Eastern Europe
. Its aims are achieved primarily by means of running convoys.
and Ukraine
. Past work has encompassed further Balkans
countries, particularly Kosovo
, and Aid Convoy has also lent support and expertise to projects in Burkina Faso
and Gaza
.
to supply clean water to the residents of the Bathorë
shanty town
, just outside the capital Tirana
.
The youth group, based in Chernihiv
is also supported by other charitable organisations, and Aid Convoy is also involved with supporting a number of other initiatives including hospitals, orphanages, schools and universities.
Funds and supplies are generally raised through special fundraising events and come from members of the public, private companies, and trust funds, but not from government nor major aid agencies. The organisation claims that its small scale and localised fundraising helps it to make its supporters feel empowered and involved, and also enables the provision of feedback with a high level of detail.
The small scale of the organisation and its policy of working directly with small local projects in its target countries are intended to reduce waste, inefficiency and potential for corruption, through local knowledge and the ability to quickly react to changing circumstances.
Supplies are delivered by volunteers in small convoys of vehicles, rather than by commercial freight methods, to allow for the volunteers from the UK to meet the people to whom they are delivering supplies.
area of the British town of Brighton
. In early 1999 Kieran Turner (now Director of Aid Convoy) and Giles Hippisley, both founding members of the Kemptown Network, organised the first meetings to discuss supporting refugees from (and within) Kosovo. After discussion and investigations, which included consulting refugees in the UK at the Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre, it was decided to send aid directly, using whatever vehicles were available, to refugee camps around Kosovo. It was decided at this very first stage that support must be equally offered to suffering civilians from both the ethnic Albanian
and the Serb
populations.
The first trip, consisting of five vehicles, was run in conjunction with Workers' Aid for Kosova
, and delivered to a support organisation based in Tirana, Albania.
Immediately upon the return of the first convoy, it was decided to return, and the second trip was sent to a refugee camp in the Republic of Macedonia
, on the border of Kosovo, with the support of the United Nations
, and in conjunction with Canterbury
-based Charity, British Humanitarian Aid, and Tewkesbury
-based Charity Tewkesbury Independent Aid. In the event, the first vehicle specifically purchased for the group (privately, by Turner and Hippisley) broke down en route. However, the Dodge 50 Series
5.6 ton truck was rescued thanks to Simon Mayo
of BBC Radio 1
. It arrived in time to rejoin the rest of the forty-vehicle convoy in a United Nations
compound in the Republic of Macedonia, but elected to deliver its load directly to a the village of Pirok
(near Tetovo
) rather than the neighbouring refugee camp, after meeting local officials who explained that the village was overrun with refugees and receiving no mainstream assistance.
By now the group was clearly going to continue to exist, distinct from The Kemptown Network, and became known as "Brighton Lifeline for Kosova". After subsequently incorporating a Brighton student-run group (which had sent six vehicles to Kosovar refugees in Albania), the conjoined committees decided to adopt the name "Brighton Lifeline Humanitarian Aid".
The next convoy was one of the very first western charitable convoys to enter Kosovo itself after the NATO bombing campaign of spring 1999, and travelled with sponsorship from the University of Aberdeen
Students' Representative Council
(now Aberdeen University Students' Association
), and in conjunction with Workers' Aid for Kosova. The convoy's six vehicles travelled to Pristina
and Kosovska Mitrovica
, where the University of Prishtina
Students' Union and various miners' trade union
s were supported.
During this month-long project the team also developed contacts in Đakovica and Prizren
, and in Rubik, Albania
.
The group continued to travel to Kosovo, often in conjunction with British Humanitarian Aid and Tewkesbury Independent Aid. Successes of these combined convoys included the delivery of two ambulances and surgical equipment to a hospital in Gnjilane
.
In Kosovo and Albania, the organisation has met and worked with representatives of other NGOs including CO-PLAN, the International Organization for Migration
, the International Rescue Committee
, and the British Council
.
In 2001, with large amounts of international redevelopment support entering Kosovo, it was decided that the group's particular form of support would be of greatest value in Ukraine, working with colleagues from Charities met during the Kosovo work, including Tewkesbury Independent Aid again, and also Horsham
-based Bear Essential Aid. The initial target for aid was the "Aratta centre for children and families" (Aratta, for short), a Ukrainian public organisation which supports people living with the legacy of Chernobyl.
During 2002–03 the organisation was renamed one final time, to Aid Convoy, in order to leave behind the association with only one British town.
The work with Aratta continued, and work was also done with the Our Generation youth group, as well as hospitals, orphanages and schools in the area.
A return to Albania began in 2003 following a special fund-raising event, "Canvas", which took the form of a raffle of works of art in Brighton and raised enough money to purchase a Land Rover Discovery
which, combined with a 3.5 ton trailer, provided greater flexibility than the former combination of trucks and vans and enabled the research work required in the insecure environment in which the borehole was later projected.
The Albanian project is under discussion with the Albanian authorities as of 2009, during which year support was also given to Viva Palestina
, with two convoys delivering medical aid to Gaza.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
charitable organisation running and supporting various humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
projects, mostly in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. Its aims are achieved primarily by means of running convoys.
Projects
Aid Convoy's current projects focus on AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Past work has encompassed further Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
countries, particularly Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, and Aid Convoy has also lent support and expertise to projects in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
and Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
.
Albania
The organisation seeks to raise funds (and secure equipment and expertise) for the digging of a boreholeBorehole
A borehole is the generalized term for any narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water or other liquid or gases , as part of a geotechnical investigation, environmental site...
to supply clean water to the residents of the Bathorë
Bathorë
Bathorë is an area just outside Tirana, the capital city of Albania in Eastern Europe. Much of the area is essentially a shanty town, although local and international charitable organisations are involved in laying drainage and water supply pipes, and in recent years a hospital and school have...
shanty town
Shanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
, just outside the capital Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
.
Ukraine
Working primarily in the area affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Aid Convoy is closely partnered with the "Our Generation" youth group whose educational and welfare projects include:- Providing a safe and alcohol-free social space for young people
- Volunteering at orphanages
- Running the Anomaly theatre group which runs drug- and HIVHIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-awareness physical theatrePhysical theatrePhysical theatre is used to describe any mode of performance that pursues storytelling or drama through primarily and secondarily physical and mental means. There are several quite distinct but indistinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term "physical theatre",...
productions at schools across the country and also in PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... - Publishing the "BiT" newspaper
- Training and encouraging similar youth groups in other cities
The youth group, based in Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
is also supported by other charitable organisations, and Aid Convoy is also involved with supporting a number of other initiatives including hospitals, orphanages, schools and universities.
Ethos and methodology
The organisation is entirely operated by unpaid volunteers, who are sourced both in the area which is the target of the assistance, and in the donor countries.Funds and supplies are generally raised through special fundraising events and come from members of the public, private companies, and trust funds, but not from government nor major aid agencies. The organisation claims that its small scale and localised fundraising helps it to make its supporters feel empowered and involved, and also enables the provision of feedback with a high level of detail.
The small scale of the organisation and its policy of working directly with small local projects in its target countries are intended to reduce waste, inefficiency and potential for corruption, through local knowledge and the ability to quickly react to changing circumstances.
Supplies are delivered by volunteers in small convoys of vehicles, rather than by commercial freight methods, to allow for the volunteers from the UK to meet the people to whom they are delivering supplies.
History
Aid Convoy evolved from a community development group, The Kemptown Network, in the KemptownKemptown
Kemptown is a small community running along the King's Cliff to Black Rock in the east of Brighton, East Sussex, England.-History:The area takes its name from Thomas Read Kemp's Kemp Town residential estate of the early 19th Century, but the one-word name now refers to an area larger than the...
area of the British town of Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. In early 1999 Kieran Turner (now Director of Aid Convoy) and Giles Hippisley, both founding members of the Kemptown Network, organised the first meetings to discuss supporting refugees from (and within) Kosovo. After discussion and investigations, which included consulting refugees in the UK at the Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre, it was decided to send aid directly, using whatever vehicles were available, to refugee camps around Kosovo. It was decided at this very first stage that support must be equally offered to suffering civilians from both the ethnic Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
and the Serb
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
populations.
The first trip, consisting of five vehicles, was run in conjunction with Workers' Aid for Kosova
Workers' Aid for Bosnia
Workers' Aid for Bosnia was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1993, after a call by the Campaign Against Fascism in Europe . Sixty people – socialists, trade unionists and Bosnian refugees – met to discuss how to organise solidarity with those people in ex-Yugoslavia defending a...
, and delivered to a support organisation based in Tirana, Albania.
Immediately upon the return of the first convoy, it was decided to return, and the second trip was sent to a refugee camp in the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, on the border of Kosovo, with the support of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, and in conjunction with Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
-based Charity, British Humanitarian Aid, and Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also minor tributaries the Swilgate and Carrant Brook...
-based Charity Tewkesbury Independent Aid. In the event, the first vehicle specifically purchased for the group (privately, by Turner and Hippisley) broke down en route. However, the Dodge 50 Series
Dodge 50 Series
The Dodge 50 Series, later known as the Renault 50 Series were light commercial vehicles produced in the UK by Chrysler Europe and later Renault Véhicules Industriels between 1979 and 1993....
5.6 ton truck was rescued thanks to Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo is an English radio presenter who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. As of January 2010, Mayo is presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 and, with Mark Kermode, presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews on BBC Radio 5 Live.In 2008, Mayo was recognised as the "radio...
of BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
. It arrived in time to rejoin the rest of the forty-vehicle convoy in a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
compound in the Republic of Macedonia, but elected to deliver its load directly to a the village of Pirok
Pirok
Pirok is a village in the northwest of the Republic of Macedonia. It is located from Tetovo. The population consists of approximately 6,129 people, all of Albanian ethnicity. ....
(near Tetovo
Tetovo
Tetovo is a city in the northwestern part of Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River.The city covers an area of at above sea level, with a population of 86,580 citizens in the municipality. Tetovo is home to the State University of Tetovo and South East...
) rather than the neighbouring refugee camp, after meeting local officials who explained that the village was overrun with refugees and receiving no mainstream assistance.
By now the group was clearly going to continue to exist, distinct from The Kemptown Network, and became known as "Brighton Lifeline for Kosova". After subsequently incorporating a Brighton student-run group (which had sent six vehicles to Kosovar refugees in Albania), the conjoined committees decided to adopt the name "Brighton Lifeline Humanitarian Aid".
The next convoy was one of the very first western charitable convoys to enter Kosovo itself after the NATO bombing campaign of spring 1999, and travelled with sponsorship from the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
Students' Representative Council
Students' Representative Council
A Students' Representative Council represents student interests in the government of a university, school or other educational institution. Generally the SRC forms part of a broader Students' Association which may include other functions such as societies, entertainments and sports Universities...
(now Aberdeen University Students' Association
Aberdeen University Students' Association
Aberdeen University Students' Association is the students' association of the University of Aberdeen, an ancient university in the city of Aberdeen in north east Scotland...
), and in conjunction with Workers' Aid for Kosova. The convoy's six vehicles travelled to Pristina
Pristina
Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district....
and Kosovska Mitrovica
Kosovska Mitrovica
Kosovska Mitrovica , is a city and municipality in northern Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous district....
, where the University of Prishtina
University of Prishtina
The University of Prishtina as well as the Universiteti i Prishtinës are at present two disjoint public universities located in Kosovo, sharing the same history up to a point of bifurcation, which took place in 1999....
Students' Union and various miners' trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s were supported.
During this month-long project the team also developed contacts in Đakovica and Prizren
Prizren
Prizren is a historical city located in southern Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district.The city has a population of around 131,247 , mostly Albanians...
, and in Rubik, Albania
Rubik, Albania
Rubik is a municipality located in the central-north of Albania in the mountainous Mirditë District along national roadway SH30 which links Tirana/Lezhë County with Rrëshen/Kukes and the new Durrës-Kosovo auto-strata...
.
The group continued to travel to Kosovo, often in conjunction with British Humanitarian Aid and Tewkesbury Independent Aid. Successes of these combined convoys included the delivery of two ambulances and surgical equipment to a hospital in Gnjilane
Gnjilane
Gnjilane or Gjilan is a city and municipality in eastern Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the District of Gjilan. It is famous for having been recorded the lowest temperature in Kosovo with on 25 January 1963.-Name and history:...
.
In Kosovo and Albania, the organisation has met and worked with representatives of other NGOs including CO-PLAN, the International Organization for Migration
International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration is an intergovernmental organization. It was initially established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration to help resettle people displaced by World War II....
, the International Rescue Committee
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee is a leading nonsectarian, nongovernmental international relief and development organization based in the United States, with operations in over 40 countries...
, and the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
.
In 2001, with large amounts of international redevelopment support entering Kosovo, it was decided that the group's particular form of support would be of greatest value in Ukraine, working with colleagues from Charities met during the Kosovo work, including Tewkesbury Independent Aid again, and also Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
-based Bear Essential Aid. The initial target for aid was the "Aratta centre for children and families" (Aratta, for short), a Ukrainian public organisation which supports people living with the legacy of Chernobyl.
During 2002–03 the organisation was renamed one final time, to Aid Convoy, in order to leave behind the association with only one British town.
The work with Aratta continued, and work was also done with the Our Generation youth group, as well as hospitals, orphanages and schools in the area.
A return to Albania began in 2003 following a special fund-raising event, "Canvas", which took the form of a raffle of works of art in Brighton and raised enough money to purchase a Land Rover Discovery
Land Rover Discovery
The Discovery was introduced into the United Kingdom in 1989. The company code-named the vehicle "Project Jay". The new model was based on the chassis and drivetrain of the more upmarket Range Rover, but with a lower price aimed at a larger market segment and intended to compete with Japanese...
which, combined with a 3.5 ton trailer, provided greater flexibility than the former combination of trucks and vans and enabled the research work required in the insecure environment in which the borehole was later projected.
The Albanian project is under discussion with the Albanian authorities as of 2009, during which year support was also given to Viva Palestina
Viva Palestina
Viva Palestina is a British-based registered charity which came into being in January 2009 with the initial intention of running a humanitarian aid convoy to the Gaza Strip...
, with two convoys delivering medical aid to Gaza.
External links
- Aid Convoy website
- Our Generation – Ukrainian youth group and a major partner of Aid Convoy
- Aratta – Ukrainian charity for families near Chernobyl (site in Russian)
- Details of UK Immigration Removal Centres (including Tinsley House, mentioned above)