A group of 11 children from Ukraine arrived in Mallorca in the early hours of this morning and were met by their Mallorcan host families.
Most of the children previoulsy visited the island during the summer and Christmas holidays, but this time their stay will be indefinite.
They come from a shelter for orphans or children with other social problems located in Bucha, a town of some 30,000 inhabitants near the besieged capital. And their journey to Mallorca has been made possible thanks to the volunteers of the charity Per Ells, which since 2005 has been facilitating their temporary stay on the island during holidays or as students.
Another group of 19 minors will arrive today.
The children disembarked in Alcudia at around 03:45 in the early hours of this morning. They had travelled thousands of kilometres across Europe in two vans driven by Xesc Nicolau and Miquel Jordi. These two volunteers travelled more than 2,400 km to the Polish border to deliver aid material to the refugees, and returned with the children after another 2,300 km on the road.
The 11 children and their two carers left Hungary for Slovenia, crossing Italy to Verona, where they spent the night, and then drove to Genoa, from there along the coast to Montpellier and finally Barcelona, where they boarded a Baleària ferry.
In spite of everything, the children arrived tired but happy.