The Eurovision song contest has a lot to answer for...

The Ukrainian Eurovision song contest winner might well have deserved to win the contest. Today it has been on a nigh on continuous loop... in the refugee centre,....outside in the food tent,...on the street outside...played on mobile boombox devices....often overlapping each other. Obviously struck a chord so to speak.

Not everything works as it should. A family recently arrived in Colne, went to register with a surgery, and were told by the surgery that they couldn't do so as they had no NHS number. Both the sponsors and the refugees went away upset.It was resolved it in the end, but what a welcome to be sent away like that after 1.5 hours trying to complete the paperwork. And being given wrong information. And initially not allowed to register.

This family is also waiting for Lancashire County Council to kick in with it's support. In the meantime the sponsor is carrying the financial cost of supporting the family. Often these challenges are magnified where there is little English.
Some councils have really got their act together on this. The jury unfortunately is out on Lancashire for now. 
Just another observation. Generally in England, if something isn't right, you can have a go at it. Might not change anything, but at least you can challenge. In some places, criticism is not easily, or at all accepted, without offence.

And so to the stories of the day. A mother with a 16 year old daughter- a Ukrainian athletic champion, wanting to come to England to follow her dream, as she can no longer do so in Ukraine. Who knows what she will achieve? And that England might give her that opportunity.

A Ukrainian chess champion, 17 years old who is Manchester bound, and wants passionately to teach young people to learn how to play chess. If you haven't watched queen's gambit on Netflix....this guy is a male version. Can't wait to watch him play.... He has promised me a game.... I just hope he will allow me 12 moves ...on the 13th I will admit defeat. May you do well Vlad.


Comments

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