Peterborough Cathedral support aid trip to war-torn Ukraine

Peterborough Cathedral's Chief Operating Officer, Jan Armitage, has recently returned from an aid trip to the Ukraine.

Jan, along with nine other volunteers, have returned from making the roughly 2100km drive to Lviv- close to Ukraine’s western border with Poland- to deliver medical supplies to the people of the country that have been severely affected by Russia’s invasion.

Jan was the first woman to join the locally organised aid trip, travelling as part of a convoy of trucks through Europe and into the war-ravaged country.

Until recently, the Cathedral had been running a wider Ukraine support project – Homes for Ukraine and The Ukrainian Empowerment Forum.

Jan said: “It was good to support a project on the ground, rather than in the UK and it fits within our bigger Ukraine support.

"The Cathedral supported the project by acting as banker, so it was good to see the mission in action.

"Prior to my going it had only been men who had participated and in an equal world, why should a woman not be able to go?

"Having a woman there allowed the project to get closer to some of the real conversations because we were talking woman to woman.

“I would gladly go again, and I am looking at whether we can provide some targeted support for specific issues that were identified during the trip.”