TWO good samaritans made their ‘emotional journey’ back from Poland after helping hundreds of Ukrainian families fleeing war.

Ronnie Goodberry, 62 and Duane Harris, 55, from Woodley, returned from the Polish convent on Tuesday, April 26, after a 22-hour drive.

The pair said the humanitarian expedition opened their eyes to how horrible the situation is for families trying to escape the war in Ukraine and seek refuge.

They also delivered supplies including medicines and dry food - and changed a little girls life by providing a wheelchair after she was bed-bound for more than a month.

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Ronnie said: “Honestly Woodley did a good thing. It was a fantastic trip and we changed a lot of people’s minds and saw a lot of broken hearts. They even asked us to stay at the convent. They relied on our donations, they had no Unicef, no Red Cross - nothing. Over 1,100 people were arriving to the convent each day.

“When we arrived at 7.30pm and I honestly got into my car and drove for another two hours up and down the motorway just to focus myself as so much anger, emotion and relief built up from the past couple of days. I was so pumped up from it all.

"We’ve both been offered counselling as what went on out there has really hit home for us.” 

They’re now discussing whether they should do a second trip to Europe.

Duane said: “We’re happy to go back if Woodley wants us to. We’re just discussing it now as we don’t want to ask too much of people what with the cost of living. At the end of the day we want to make the effort for the poor people stuck in that situation. It all depends on the response from the public and how many donations we get.

“We’re holding fire for now as we want to hear from the control hub in Poland to find out what they really need first. Everything that was donated got used in Poland and some of it went out to orphanages in Kyiv which is really great. But we need to be selective as they don’t want donations to end up going into landfill.

“When we were out there we listened and they told us their stories and we didn’t question anything as they’re going through post-traumatic stress. I mean a lady said her daughter had dragged her out of her flat just as a bomb was about to hit.”

Mr Harris said his perception of life has changed since returning home. 

“Your close your eyes and see horrible images. It’s not scarred me but when you see how people are going through this first hand it makes you feel grateful for what you have and realise how quickly you can lose everything,” he said.

Duane has opened up a donation pot online to see if the demand is there for the pair to drive back to Poland.

All donations will be used to collect and arrange the transportation of essential supplies to those directly affected by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Visit: www.woodleyra.co.uk