“So what’s life like with your refugees?” has been asked by a number of friends. We are now 10 days in and here’s a little summary.
Rachel and I were up very early on the day of their arrival. Their rooms were ready and, aside from the building-site-of-a-kitchen, the house was more or less ready for them. As we were heading down the M1 to the airport, my eyes flicked between the speed cameras, my watch and the overhead signs saying 60…. 50…. 40…. queue ahead. In the end we arrived at the airport in good time and hung around the arrivals meeting point.
Would they really get passed the tough looking Border Force immigration officers? Did we really get their visa application right? Is there a catch? Have we forgotten something? After a while, three beaming smiles spotted us and we walked towards each other and met for the first time. A mother and two daughters from Ukraine, rather bemused and just like fish out of water.
A sobering thought: they had one suitcase between them and each of them had a small handbag. Nothing else.
I cannot imagine what they have been through
In May last year the bombing and shelling came to their village. Bit by bit their life was disrupted and people gradually left the village. Then a shell blew their windows out. Then their roof, followed by a missile landing in their garden with a crater 5 metres deep. Out of the 11 rooms in their house, only three are in tact. They had to leave. Meanwhile their village was occupied by the Russian army and thankfully they were driven back after a while. Although their little part of Ukraine was liberated, the damage to their house meant it was uninhabitable.
During the first few days they seemed to sleep a lot but you can hardly blame them after such a long and difficult journey, involving buses, trains and a long wait at Krakow airport, in Poland. We were concerned they weren’t eating very much and whether they were still in some kind of shock. Perhaps they still are to a certain extent, even now.
I also wonder if they are in some kind of a honey moon period, when everything is new and a novelty, almost like being on holiday. At some point, I wonder, will some kind of reality kick in?
Officialdom
I am pleased to report officialdom has, on the whole, been pretty good. Even the blummin Council has been quite impressive with welcome payments for them and this has been paid with ease – simple QR codes sent to their phones and shown at the Post Office leading to cash was handed over. Their biometric ID cards were collected from Milton Keynes and we have registered them with our GP service. Speaking of which, they still need to acknowledge that our guests are entitled to an interpreter (should be an easy issue to resolve).
Learning English, navigating the delights of Universal Credit, opening bank accounts, joining the library, getting a computer keyboard in their language, finding their way around, coping with our food and so the list goes on. These are challenges which we are supporting them with, plus it’s worth saying other people have been so good.
The kindness of others
Some kind village folk have asked how they can help. Some have already provided clothes for them. Some friends have taken pity on us and our kitchen situation and have invited us around for a meal. Some Ukrainians already here have been great, including one in the village who has gone out of her way to help.
As yet, we haven’t talked much about their situation and the impact of the war, for fear of opening raw wounds. Over the weekend we were sitting in our garden as some neighbours had come to meet them. An aircraft flew over the village, quite high up and the change in the sound of the engines had them on edge. The only things flying in their part of Ukraine were drones, missiles and shells, so no wonder they were a bit jumpy.
Buckingham Palace!
I asked our guests if they would like to see anything of England, anywhere they’d like to visit. They had always dreamt of seeing London, so we went along with hundreds of other people! They found it fascinating and they know all of the royal family names. From there we were very touristy – Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge, London Eye, Southbank to Tate Modern, wobbly wobbly bridge to St Pauls, tube to Tower Bridge and then home. Over 20,000 steps and I loved it too!
They will share what they are able to and some has already been quite shocking. We chat a little in English but find our selves reaching for Google Translate. Google Translate is, on the whole, quite marvellous but it does have a brainstorm now and again and come up with something quite ridiclious. Thankfully we all seem to realise it at the same time!