It was with a mixture or excitement and trepidation that I left for this, our sixth, visit to Croatia. I was looking forward to seeing all my friends again. First trip for three months and the first of the year.

We had helped with the co-ordination of another twenty tonnes of aid, ranging from food to toiletries, blankets to furniture, and had decided that this would be the trip when we loaded everything on to the lorry which was going down, and actually drive with no load on the van. This was a very strange feeling, with no goods being piled high behind you, and I still have mixed feelings whether I like it or not. Certainly from a 'customs' point of view it is wonderful, as they just wave you through, but from cost effectiveness point of view I have yet to make a decision.

I was trying to reach Zagreb for the Thursday evening as I knew that with the aid workers staying at Ljubica's house there would be a meeting at a hall where many people would be gathered. However, it didn't start well as the weather was so rough, the channel ferries were all running late and I reached Calais more than three hours later than I had planned.

However, I managed to drive to just past WŸrzburg that night and slept in the van until early morning, when I started on the final leg of the journey which I managed to complete by 18.00.

The next day I had a rest as the others were not arriving until the evening. As usual I was woken up by the greetings of the others arriving at about midnight. Somehow it isn't so annoying to be woken up from a deep sleep by these people.

Next morning we were up and ready to start the distribution, deciding to get to a couple of the large camps where the bulk of the goods would be left. Before we could begin loading the vans we had to organise the railway carriages where everything is left.

When the lorry is unloaded the people who unload it aren't aware of how it may have been packed so for the most part things are unloaded, quite justifiably, with time as the essence. So we spent the first four or five hours loading the three vans and sorting out the carriages to make our work easier over the coming days.

It had been decided to go to a large camp, Bundek, where the are about 350 people, and leave goods at each barrack rather than unload everything in a central place and then let everything been shared out after we had left - apparently the last time we did this it wasn't too well done! So we dropped off stuff at each building based on the number of families/people living there, of course we didn't have all we needed and arranged to go back later, and after about two hours, or maybe three, and thanks and tea and coffee, we moved on to the next camp, which was HZ.

Because this is known as an illegal camp, HZ has not had any electricity for about six months and recently had its water cut off. We arrived as it was getting dark and it started to spit with rain. There was a cold wind and the camp had a eerie feel to it. We unloaded the goods we had brought into a shed opposite the barracks, with people huddled around the small lamp watching as everything was piled high in front of them.

One of the vans went to another camp only a few metres away across the railway tracks giving me an unusual opportunity to watch as the goods were shared out, children running up from time to time hoping (and frequently getting) giveaways or sweets from one of the two remaining vans.

It was now getting late and we headed home for the evening and a well earned rest.

The next morning we were back at the carriages loading up the vans and getting ready for one of the more difficult camps to deliver aid to, Nova Cice. It seems no matter how we give the aid out there are always disagreements and fights and Ljubica gets caught up in it all, with the male aid workers acting as 'minders'. This visit was no exception and very soon it was as crazy as ever, with people fighting over something they didn't even know that they needed, let alone what is was! We are hoping to introduce a system similar to the one we used in Bundek in order to overcome this next time.

We went to see our friends in Grad Malidh where we have been leaving the duvets. We didn't have any to leave this time, but we hope to complete our ambition to make sure that everyone on the camp has a single duvet when we go back in June. As usual they put on a really nice light lunch, which is difficult to refuse but we don't like to eat the food given by refugees - they need it more than us.

One of the things we wanted to achieve on this trip was to visit a house a family wanted to buy in order to get themselves out of the camp they lived in (HZ), and we had collected the husband and wife so they could show us the place. We had been give a sum of money for such an opportunity and needed to confirm the status of the place, legality etc. We duly turned up at the house, which was two rooms, with a kitchen tagged on the end, and were entertained by four people none of whom spoke English as they tried to ply us with snapps, beer and meat. This was done for no other reason than as a gesture of hospitality, something you find a surfeit of in Croatia - or cake country, as it is known to the aid convoys.

It was very interesting to me to see what 20,000 DM's (approx. US$12,000) would buy, and having heard a story that it was a converted garage it was a very pleasant surprise to see a very nice small house, in its own small grounds with chickens running around. In fact, there was a really wonderful German Shepherd running around as well and we tried to make them understand that unless she stayed we would knock 1,000 DM's off the price.

This family who we are hoping to help, there was no particular reason why they were chosen it just sort of happened, are made up of the parents and a son and daughter. The daughter, Ana, was so traumatised after the war she could not speak for several years and even now seems somewhat withdrawn. However, we made the decision to help them and as long as it is ratified they should have their money in May and it should all be completed by the beginning of June.

This is a really good feeling knowing that you are giving people a new start in life and actually getting them out of a refugee camp.

We returned to the carriages later that evening and loaded the vans for the next day. Before returning for our evening meal we stopped at the hall where the Bal Vikas children were having there meeting, but as we were late most of them had left and the few remaining sang three bhajans for us and we all went home.

The next three days saw us follow the familiar round of camps, the same families, the same faces. We visited the hospital at Gornje Bistra where the severely handicapped children are, and left a large amount of equipment designed to help children with learning difficulties, donated by a hospital in England. We left some stuff at the Reto Centre, a Spanish inspired house for some Croats with drug addiction (now these people do service!). We saw the young girl at Zapresic who is recovering from a brain tumour. Watched mature ladies demand to be given a pair of teenage girl shoes at Rakici. Witnessed the joy of the coordinator at Kostantiz as she told us she expected her house to be ready by June and she could move back to Vukovar. Visited Father Bradica, the wonderful Catholic Priest who inspires his congregation, as we tried to coordinate the laying of a garden/play area for the visit in June. Called in at a Caritas school where some of the children are former members of the hospital at Gornje Bistra

Two things spring to mind . We were joined by the wife of the British Ambassador to Croatia, Gertie, who came with us to visit some of the camps and she concluded that this was "one of the best days I have spent in Croatia". During her day out we visited a camp which had not received any aid for six years. The people we were with are being constantly surprised by how these new camps spring up, despite the fact they have been occupied since the war. We promised them what they needed for the next trip.

The next trip.

Already we are having to think about what these people need and how we can get the goods together. Twenty tonnes of aid doesn't just appear by itself. The ten days away is only the culmination of weeks of collecting and packing, begging and thanking. And the Ambassador's wife is arranging a meeting in June with government officials and local business people to see if we can get more refugees out of the camps. How will we raise our part of the money? How have we managed this so far?

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