Edinburgh, July 2026 – Reusing IT purchased a van earlier this year for the Education Initiative Foundation in Ukraine, after it came to our attention that they were paying huge fees in van hire to distribute computers across the country.
Supporting the Unbreakable Education programme is a core focus for us. We continue to send regular shipments of pc’s, laptops, smart screens and other devices to Kyiv, destined to help keep children in education despite the war.
But there are considerable costs and difficulties in distributing the devices out from Kyiv to where they are needed to schools and families, particularly in eastern regions such as Dnipro, Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia which are all very close to the front lines and active conflict zones.
“When they told me they were paying £350 per day for van hire in order to distribute the devices we donate to them, I thought it sounded extremely expensive,” says Ross Cockburn, Founder of Reusing IT. But when the everyday meets war, all calculations are different. Anyone hiring a vehicle to go into these regions is running a risk, so the insurance is very high. “It’s yet another indication of the challenges faced in Ukraine, and the real risks people have to take to get things done.”
“It’s all very well getting the equipment from Edinburgh to Kyiv as quickly as possible, but it’s not doing its job until it’s out of Kyiv and into the schools or with pupils home schooling,” says Ross. So Reusing IT decided to purchase a van for the purpose. Sourced in Germany via our partners Techbuyer, it’s a Mercedes Sprinter, chosen for known reliability and the capacity to deliver 250 computers in one trip. It’s expediting the distribution process considerably, and with the van hire costs no longer necessary, more funds can instead go directly into the Unbreakable Education programme.
Thanks are due to Nino Sinatra of Techbuyer Germany and Wibke Singelmann for helping to organise the purchase, fitting it out and arranging vehicle livery. Christian Walter, a volunteer from Educational Initiatives, collected the van and drove it to Kyiv – and as a bonus filled it with a shipment of humanitarian aid from Germany in the process!