From my very dear friends in the Netherlands who have been in Moldova helping Ukrainian Jews get to Israel:

After more than three weeks we are on our way back to the Netherlands, without the group of Jewish people.

At the moment we are driving through Hungary. We first have to go to Switzerland to bring the bus back. We will spend the Shabbat there and if all goes well we will be picked up on Sunday and we will try to travel back to the Netherlands early on Sunday morning.

Just a little something about our last day in Moldova.
We were invited for a farewell breakfast, by the people with whom we worked very closely and pleasantly in Moldova.
During that breakfast we received a phone call asking if we could take 57 Jewish people to Switzerland. We don't have to think long about that, of course we wanted to do that. After calling back and forth we were able to rent a large bus and with our bus it would fit just right.
I hesitated for a while whether I should post the message about this latest job in this group because we have the experience here that something is only certain when the job is finished.
The situation as he went yesterday, however, shows how chaotic it is here and how flexible you have to be to be able to function in it.
It might be nice for you to be part of such a situation too

As we drove to Rabbi Rachamim's synagogue, Pieter and I were mentally preparing to drive a full bus to Switzerland in about 24 hours. How do we do that with food, how do we do that with sleep, can we as drivers take enough rest while the other driver is driving. Maybe we should arrange an overnight stay for 57 people. In short, we tried to come up with creative solutions.
Arriving at the synagogue we were encouraged by the name of the synagogue, kehilat BetYosef, the same name as the messianic synagogue that Pieter and I belong to in the Netherlands.
If you have any questions about our kehila or if you would like to visit us, please send a private message to Pieter or me.
But that aside

So we were encouraged and ready to get this job done, knowing it was going to be a tough one.
When we introduced ourselves nicely to the rabbi and told him that we were the ones who would bring the 57 Jewish people to Switzerland, he looked at us in a certain way and I knew this could take a while.
There were still people in the hospital, people still had to be registered, he still had to make lists, he still had to speak to them all etc.. Then he left and didn't come back!!!!
And it got later and later.
Behind the scenes, Jack had contact with the rabbi from Switzerland, where these people were going, to no avail.
After waiting more than four hours, Pieter and I decided to drive without the people, we still had the option to rent a double-decker bus if it still goes on.

It was not until late in the evening that I received a message from the rabbi that most of the group wanted to go to Israel and a few to Germany and none to Switzerland.

We are now almost entering Budapest, the sun is shining and we feel like going to our wives.
In addition, we hope and expect that a second, third, fourth wave of Jewish olim will get underway and Pieter and I want to reach out to serve again to transport as many as possible.

Yom naim

Pieter and Wiljo