We didn’t need to think twice when we received an invitation to the First Solidarity and Peace Film Festival in the Záhony Culture House in December!
We arrived in Záhony late on Friday 16th, being quite shocked by the 12km queue of over 500 trucks waiting to cross the border. This had increased massively since our last visit and left us wondering if someone should be trying to provide some assistance to the drivers as they wait – a mobile soup van perhaps? Temperatures of minus 10, and food rationing in Hungarian shops, can’t make it an easy time for them.
On Saturday we were up early to visit the Záhony Culture House where people gathered for a morning of community activities- decorating the tree (it seemed the older the person, the higher the climb of the ladder!) Gingerbread making, and many other crafts for young and old. We were able to share some of our Christmas treats from England, as many of the families we met have relatives either working for MÁV at the station, or are involved in the community response to help refugees.
After this we travelled in a kindly-loaned car with Petra, our Dutch volunteer, to visit a very dear friend who greeted us with smiles, hugs and kindness throughout our time at Záhony.. We shared with her some Christmas gifts from England and wished her well in her forthcoming retirement.
A vital part of this trip was to make sure nobody was left out, and as best we could in the time we had we shared a little seasonal joy with as many people as possible. We prepared platters for the hard-working ticket office staff, train cleaners, station cleaners and train control and train crew office who were busy working and couldn’t attend the festivities. These even included home-made mince pies, transported all the way from our home kitchen in Weston-super-Mare, and a box of home-made christmas shortbread from one of our friends in Cheddar.
At 3pm, the Film Festival and Concert began.. 3 films were shown, all filmed in or around Záhony, to an audience of around 300 local people and international volunteers. We contributed our ticket prices to help fund the event, and were surprised to be invited onto the stage and thanked by the Mayor for our time in Záhony and the contribution we made to the humanitarian aid provision in the town in the busiest 3 months of the crisis.
Afterwards we were able to catch up with some people we’ve not seen since the Summer and hear how their lives have changed since spending time volunteering in this very special community.
Finally, we met Dr Tatjána Erdélyi again and handed her the bulk of the Christmas cakes and puddings, along with all the wonderful knitted bears and – new this time – knitted glovepuppets (to keep small hands warm as well as give a little pleasure), to distribute in the coming weeks in Ukraine. Her missions have ramped up a lot since power shortages and temperature drops have doubly affected even the towns just over the border from Záhony.
As this was a “flying visit” by Ryanair, we were quite pleased to have transported a good load of items too.
65 Christmas Puddings
24kg of Christmas cakes of various sizes, mainly individual but including home made.
100 chocolate bars
Small quantity gloves & hot water bottles
Small gifts
50 teddy bears and 24 sets of glove puppets
TeddyBusz - Bears of Hope 