Decisions, decisions...

- so hard to make decisions at the best of times but, when you have been uprooted from your country, lost your home and livelihood, and suffered the trauma of war, how much harder. Do you stay in Poland and wait until this awful war ends? What if you, literally, have nothing left to go back to? Do you still have hope that you'll have a home again one day?
A few of today's dilemmas:
Mother and 12 year old daughter, who doesn't have a passport so would have to undergo the ordeal of travelling to a Visa Application Centre. The daughter speaks pretty good English but mother is thinking about going to Germany - no visa requirements, free travel - where they have relatives, although neither mother nor daughter speak any German.

Mother and 14 year old daughter, who lived near Bucha (site of atrocious war crimes) and have nothing left. Husband has stayed behind to look after his mother. Mother speaks hardly any English and spoke to her potential sponsors via a translator - she broke down in tears when they simply said that they would provide a home where she will be safe. The sponsors were contacted again after daughter finished school (provided for all refugee children). She speaks very good English and could see that this would be an opportunity for her. But mother, literally, can't make a decision, being almost paralysed by trauma. They are sharing 2 rooms amongst 10 people - 1 kitchen, 2 bathrooms. We have given her a few days to try to come to a decision: 50/50.

Mother and 4 year old have been waiting 21 days since their visa applications were completed and still no response, despite the sponsor writing to the MP and other officials. The Polish government provides free accommodation for refugees for 60 days (which is an amazing commitment, given that it has about 3 million refugees), which will end for her on 26 April. What does she do if the applications still haven't been approved - and flights arranged in time? Will she be tempted to give up and return to the Ukraine, as her best friend did?

Speaking of MPs, Bob finally got a reply (after 2 weeks) to his letter to our MP, regarding the council's lack of response to refugees arriving in Lancashire. He was directed to Lancashire County Council's Homes for Ukraine website, which we already know about - no contact number, services will be in place, etc, etc. We hear things are much better down in Dorset, where a Ukranian community is also being developed. Better weather, too!

Comments

  1. Mum21 April 2022 at 14:31

    An article in the local paper here, Valencia Spain, says that Spain now has 56,379,Ukrainian refugees with 9, 864 in the Valencia region. Sounds like they are a bit better organised, or committed, than the UK.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Third Christmas of the War.

Image
I remember when we first went to Ukraine, we thought we'd better hurry up and get over there to help before the war finished, and there'd be nothing for us to do. How naïve were we? The situation in Ukraine at present has got even worse, especially in the areas in close contact with the Russian forces, although with the constant Shahed and missile attacks nowhere is safe. Kherson has become particularly difficult, and delivering aid there is a direct threat to life. Any vehicle or person can be targeted by Russian small killer drones. This week, a vehicle that is used to deliver aid that we have sometimes used, was attacked and badly damaged beyond repair. Miraculously, the driver, a person I know survived but suffered injuries.  The occupants of a bus were not so fortunate. It was attacked, 3 people died and several more injured. It's really terrifying.  What's really sick is that the Russian's then post o...
Read more

The killing goes on.

Image
Time diminishes things. News cycles bring new, more pressing concerns. But the war here in Ukraine grinds on, with deaths a daily occurrence. The killing seems to have become more incideous and heartless.This weekend in Kherson, delivering aid, under the fairly constant sound of artillery and drone attacks, I heard and saw the inhumanity of this senseless war. There is now a real tangible fear about going out in your car in Kherson. Over the last few months, individual cars have been targeted by Russian drones. These carry small bombs or grenade type munitions. . A car is targeted. An initial bomb dropped. The man realises he's  being targeted and tries to drive away at high speed. He then stops suddenly, hoping to get away. Opens his door to run away, but about two metres away from the car a small bomb explodes. With the door open, nothing seems to happen, then as in slow motion, a man falls from the driver's seat onto the road. Dead. It...
Read more

Krakow to Lviv

Image
We left Krakow at 3am because we had heard that there have been up to 3 hour waits on the Poland-Ukraine border. The balance has changed to more people returning to Ukraine (to the relatively safe western Lviv region) than leaving Ukraine. As it happened, we drove through the fairly haphazard border controls with no hold up. The first thing we noticed on the Ukrainian side were miles (literally) of lorries lining the side of the highway, which was only 2 lanes so made for fairly scary driving. On the Polish side was an equally long line of parked cars, waiting to be sold. We also noticed more potholes on Ukrainian roads than even East Lancashire! The purpose of our visit to Ukraine is 2-fold: firstly, we drove our friend, Romana, home to Lviv (in her car) with her 4-year-old daughter, as she decided against coming to England in order to be with her husband and family. Secondly, w...
Read more