A welcome


And what a welcome - to Barrowford, East Lancashire - from the primary school and the hosts. It has taken about 2.5 months for a mother and young daughter to find a way to leave Kharkiv, amidst ongoing bombardments, complete their visa applications remotely, make their way to Poland and, last night, to England. We're not sure how it happened, but we know it took a lot of commitment and determination on both sides. 

This morning Bob went to the old library to prepare for his English lessons for adults, which start next week. It happens to be only a short walk from where we live. Last time, and this time, an elderly gentleman was sitting at a desk in the room, studying, sat in the same place, almost as though he lived there. He speaks good English and, when we explained what we are doing, he said, simply, "I am a refugee." Organisations sometimes beat about the bush with this terminology, thinking it may be demeaning, but for the refugees themselves it is their reality.

The governor of Lviv reported that 133 refugees arrived in one train yesterday and 880 left by train for Poland. 

I listened to a Radio 4 podcast of yesterday's "Woman's Hour," which featured 2 women who are volunteer drivers for a charity called Eden Aid. They drive donated minibuses with humanitarian aid to the Poland-Ukraine border, and bring back refugees and pets to their host families, whether in Poland, Germany or the UK.

At the start of the programme the presenter noted that 22% of Ukraine's military are female. This was not something I'd considered in my image of a soldier fighting (and dying) at the front.

Something that one of the women drivers said really struck home: "If all of us can do just one little thing to help..."
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0018x0x
18 minutes into the programme and only lasts 9 minutes.

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