Choices..

Amidst all the sadness, anger and despair, there are also happy moments like this message from V (age 13) and her mother, who arrived in Shaftesbury yesterday:

Hello. I don't have enough words to express my gratitude to you. (Our hosts) are wonderful people. We were met and taken home. It is very calm, quiet and beautiful. This makes me very happy. I never expected to see so much love and warmth! Thanks a lot!💖💖💖

They gave permission for their wonderful welcome photo to be on our blog.

We also had another arrival yesterday - a family of 3 in Colne, by coincidence also including a 13 year old. They are a very cheerful older couple who speak very little English, but they were already going for an English assessment this morning so lessons should start quickly. Unfortunately, the boy has not been accepted into a local school yet ("all the high schools are full"), despite assurance that he will have a place. I am following this up. After so much disruption and trauma, it's self-evident that children need the stability and routine of school, as well as the chance to be part of a peer group before the summer holidays start.

Emily, the nurse practitioner, came to the refugee centre today, this time bringing a supply of nebulisers. Her previous delivery of medications had already been distributed amongst the other refugee centres in the city. She came with her friend, Joy, who is an air hostess; she manages to get free cargo for the loads of medicine and equipment they bring over. Emily will be travelling to Lviv in western Ukraine tomorrow with other colleagues, to deliver the main supplies.

We overhead an interesting conversation on our homeward bound tram - a young Ukrainian woman speaking in English to an American man. She said that she has been in Poland for nearly 3 months and tomorrow she is returning to Kyiv. The guy said he was glad that it felt safe enough to do so. Her response: it isn't really safe, but I want to go home to my friends, my family and my country.

It's understandable that some people will make this choice, whilst others will choose to move to a foreign country for a period, however long, of peace and safety. We were talking to a refugee today about the pros and cons of moving to different areas of England. He commented that wherever he and his family might go, they won't be bombed.

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