How to even start today...

... early this morning, as we were setting up for the 'fruit bar,' talk was of the missile strikes on Lviv in western Ukraine. Lviv had begun to be thought of as a safe place again, life was returning to some sort of normality and people were returning. All that was shattered today and, as the mayor of Lviv said, there is no safe place now. I keep thinking of Sofiia's children, who returned to Lviv last week, and how scared they must have been, hearing the sirens again.

Bob was poorly and stayed 'home' today. I completed visa applications with a young woman, 'A,' from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, where the worst fighting is. A, her mother and 8 year old son have a sponsor family in Rawtenstall. A was on her own as her mother will not/cannot leave the place where they are staying in Krakow. We spoke to the sponsor family and A broke down in tears as she heard the kindness in their voices, and their concern for her mother's comfort and her son's interests - football, dogs and maths!

We completed the 3 visa applications in a record time of just over 2 hours! A stayed to talk for a short time only as she said that she was worried about leaving her mother for long. A managed to tell me that her father died in the war just over 3 weeks ago. A is a single mother. She was a successful businesswoman and had just bought a new flat. Now, her flat and business have been destroyed and she has no money. The three of them, literally, have nothing but one another. A asked for a hug as she left - all very hard to process.

Which brings me to a huge SHOUT OUT for sponsors. There seems to be a misconception that refugees should move to cities, rather than rural areas. No, not if there are towns nearby and reasonable transport links, as is the case in much of Northern England. Also, we are trying to build little communities of Ukranians in smaller places, which are likely to be more supportive than being anonymous in a city.

There is no escaping the fact that being a sponsor will be challenging - negotiating the bureaucracy when families arrive and supporting very traumatised people. But it could also be very rewarding and even life changing, we think.

If anyone wants to talk through what being a sponsor might be like, please give us a call - after 5 (UK time) better:

Bob +44 7501 141432

Fiona +44 7501 337856.