Aid Convoy is part of a network of small locally-run groups. We are currently developing an organisation which will improve links between these groups and the resources available to the voluntary sector. This project is known as the Humanitarian Aid Volunteers Network. You can find out more, and get involved, by contacting us. If you wish to know more about who you will be talking to, in the first instance it will most probably be our director Kieran Turner. Contact can then be established with people working on individual projects.

In Ukraine our most important partner is the Our Generation youth group. You can read in English about our work with them in our Ukraine information page. Alternatively if you speak Russian you can have a look at OG's own website which we're hosting here.

One of our earliest working partners was Tewkesbury Independent Aid. Formed out of the same sense of urgency as Aid Convoy, TIA joined us on an early trip into Macedonia in 1999. We have worked together with them on many convoys to Kosova and Ukraine, and hope to continue to work together; their current plans include a return to Ukraine in 2006. TIA is a UK Registered Charity. You can contact Roger Laycock of TIA by email.

One of the first organisations to take aid into Kosova was Workers' Aid, who delivered aid and support to Bosnia, Albania, and Kosova throughout the 1990s. Their drive was solidarity (rather than being a direct aid organisation) but they were an important part of our learning curve and helped us get the aid through - and make great connections. A film of our first arrival in Kosova has been produced by Rachel Robertson. It can be used to help with fundraising efforts; if you would like to see or show it, please contact us.

Our July-August 1999 convoy to Kosova and Albania (in partnership with Workers' Aid) was funded by Aberdeen University Students' Representative Council. One of the team behind that trip was Simon Varwell, who has recently revisited those countries as part of an expedition from Inverness to Cairo! You may find his travel diaries rather amusing. Simon remains involved, being part of our return trip to Albania in 2003, and we are grateful for his fundraising work in Scotland.

Previously we had also worked with British Humanitarian Aid, of Canterbury, who (like Workers' Aid) have introduced many disparate people to the aid convoy experience! Having worked in the Balkans during the conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia, then also in Kosova, BHA now continue their work with the Chernihiv Region Charity Organization, "Aratta" in Ukraine. Another charity founded by an ex-employee of BHA is Bear Essential Aid, from Horsham, West Sussex. Our first convoys to Ukraine were run in conjunction with BEA, who introduced us to their friends and partners at the Aratta community centre.

Our work in the field has also been recognised by other people who want to do the same, and this is very much in the spirit of our collaboration project, the Humanitarian Aid Volunteers Network. In 2000 we were involved in supporting and advising Millenium Commission awardees who received funds from the Commission's On The Line initiative and worked in Burkina Faso, Africa.

Recently we have provided consultancy for two groups keen to take aid and friendship to the people of Iraq, although we have no plans to travel there ourselves; sadly each new crisis in the world does nothing to mitigate the need in the countries we are already committed to supporting. Similarly, our involvement with the recent tsunami appeal has been limited to providing some emergency supplies from our stores, and co-ordinating deliveries from our donors to other carriers. We will continue to work in our existing project areas.

Our latest project in Bathorë, Albania is being carried out in consultation with the Bathore NGO Network. (In case you have always wanted to know, an "NGO" is a "non-governmental organisation".)

In Ukraine we were thrilled to meet filmmakers Ewan McGregor and Charley Borman who were on their way to New York by motorbike – the Long Way Round. They visited several UNICEF charity projects on their journey and we think their fantastic story might give you a further glimpse into the kind of life we find on the road in a convoy!

We're grateful to Brighton-based "direct action" newspaper SchNEWS for printing an article about us in the international solidarity section of their tenth anniversary book. Happy tenth anniversary!

In 2004, we bought a new Land Rover with funds raised by the first of several "Canvas" art raffles. This new concept in fundraising saw work donated by artists raffled off to ticket-holders with everybody winning a piece of work worth considerably more than their ticket price so everybody wins!

We would like to say a massive thank-you to TransEuropa freight ferries, who have provided us with travel to continental Europe at a considerable discount and with far greater flexibility and care than the major Dover-based passenger carriers. On the subject of thanks there are too many donors to mention individually! However, you can keep up to date with our newsletters (available from the home page of this site) to find out more.

Translation of this website into French (more of which is to be uploaded shortly) is by Élisabeth Désourdy, who is currently working with En Camino, an environment and education project in Peru. For more information on this ground-breaking project, please visit her blog.

A big thank-you also to Eirlys Rhiannon, an old colleague who very movingly surprised us when she dedicated a performance of a song to one of our team, and told a story of a refugee from Bosnia, and... well, brought tears to many eyes. Have a listen.

If you have found it hard to find information on Eastern European events when there isn't a "good story" for the newspapers to print, we thoroughly recommend the BBC World Service: visit the BBC News website. An example of their coverage is an informative piece about the blood feuds which blight Albania. They also have excellent archive information on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

If you have any questions or comments, would like to help, or wish to make a donation, please see our contact page from where you can obtain contact details.