Wayne Carlisle, IT Director, TALL Group, shares his experiences hosting a Ukranian family
When the government announced that anyone in the UK with a spare room can become a ‘sponsor’ as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, I knew that I had to help. Watching the daily news and knowing that more than 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes since Russia launched its invasion on Ukraine is terrifying.
On the 18th March I applied to be considered for the scheme but ended up having to look for someone to sponsor myself. Within minutes of posting an advert on a Ukrainian charity site I had 3 families wanting to escape Ukraine!
The family that I am sponsoring consist of a mother, son (Alexander), daughter in law and two children aged 3 and 13. All 5 were staying in a hospital room on the outskirts of Warsaw. Thankfully Alexander can speak excellent English and between us we managed to complete their visa applications.
The two women and children fled from Odessa to Warsaw via train, with just the bags they could carry and met up with Alexander. He works on a ship and could not fly back to Ukraine due to the war – his brother (who is father to the children) also works on a ship and will not be back in a month’s time.
They eventually got an invitation for a visa interview at the British embassy in Warsaw and were told it will be around 7 days before they would hear back and know if they could travel to the UK. Once they received the signed documentation it took nearly two days for them to travel to Leicester.
We collected the family of 5 from Rugby railway station where all of their possessions (including a wheelchair and pushchair that they’d been gifted in Poland) managed to fit in 2 cars. They were all warmly welcomed by my friends and family and have gratefully received donations of clothes and toys for the children. The whole family have begun English lessons and are keen to find work while they are in the UK. We are educating each other about our cultures – they’re introducing me to Ukrainian national dishes in exchange for some darts techniques! I hope to make them feel as safe and welcome as I can while they’re staying here.