They’ve left loved ones behind to flee a war zone, but for a few moments last week it was all smiles as Ukrainian refugees now living nearby met for the first time.
They included three-year-old Davyd Pidvinskyi, an image of who in a bomb shelter inspired Mandy Baxter to set up Boxes of Hope in Fleet, which has organised thousands of donations to those fleeing Russia’s invasion of the country.
She decided to hold regular events encouraging Ukrainian refugees and their families to meet up and talk to organisations who might be able to help them.
Davyd and mum Yana Pidvinska fled Ternopil south east of Lviv with just one bag of essentials between them.
Yana said they had been overwhelmed with the kindness shown which included plenty of presents for her son.
“He is settling in OK,” Yana said of Davyd. “He’s in a school where he is only speaking Ukrainian and they only speak English so nobody understands him, but he’s still very happy and safe, and that’s all that matters.
“The situation is very difficult. We both miss his daddy and his grandparents.
“He now knows what war is and about killing people and he’s seen the scenes on the TV.
“We just said to him that it’s a new adventure.
“He loves transport and we got to Poland by train and he’d never been on one of those or an aeroplane before so he loved that.”
Yana herself worked in a travel agents for ten years.
“Now I’m just trying to find a part-time job,” she said.
Like everyone The Voice spoke to she contacts those left behind every day with men aged 18-60 having to stay at home in case they’re called up.
While Russia is now concentrating attacks on the east of the country, none of those The Voice spoke to felt safe enough to go home and don’t trust the Russian government not to try and again attempt to take the rest of the country.
Svitlana Nahrorona, who lives in Kyiv, has been waiting for ten weeks now for visas to come through for her family while her sister works for the government in the nation’s capital. She had a cousin living in Holbeach who has provided a place to stay
“Someone has to stay and work while my mum said she was too ancient to leave the country and her house,” Svitlana said.
“She has health problems and just said when asked about leaving, if it’s time to die I die here.
“It was really scary there with the alarms always going off. It’s also scary watching the news every night.”
Svitlana has been doing her bit by acting as a translator for Boxes of Hope and helping organise the lorry loads of aid being provided to the United Nations via the gestures of donated good.
“People want to help and they help from the heart,” she said. “Everyone I know in the country really appreciates it.”
She’s also been a point of call for Ukrainians coming to the area and is clearly moved by the stories she’s heard of people who have lost family members or had homes bombed.
Those she’s helped include Oksana Ponaida, a singer, musician and conductor from Lviv. One of her daughters Hannah is a classically trained ballerina.
While Hannah is wowing Spalding Dance School with her talents, Oksana is looking for a job and college to study English.
Her son joined the national guard a year ago and is currently based in Odessa.
The Ilchkis family of mum Iryna, Alla (17) and Swizhana (12) are staying with Richard Johnson and his Spalding family who their guests say are “amazing hosts”.
They’ve the benefit of Alla speaking perfect English having studied foreign languages in America, something that’s already allowed her to secure a job at Springfields.
She’s majoring in law in Kyiv and saw on the news recently a metro station near where she studies turned into a bomb shelter.
She spoke of how coursemates across the country had suffered experiences including a teacher surviving Russian occupation of her town and friends’ schools in ruins from bombs.
“The last few months have been very stressful,” she said. “It’s been terrifying waking up and seeing the news of bombings and massacres.
“I now get panic attacks. I had one all day long on the first day of the occupation, it was terrifying.
“Bad things happened so quickly and I couldn’t believe it was happening in my country.
“My grandparents didn’t want to leave. They were saying ‘we’ve survived one war, we will survive another’.
“Our father Paulo wanted to join the army but there are too many volunteers.
“We speak to him every single day and he tells us it’s the same. Every day air sirens.
“There’s shortages at the moment and they can’t get petrol.
“He wanted us all safe as soon as possible.
“It’s very hard for my mum. She’s still not got used to having her life turned upside down as have all of ours.
“She really misses him, is very depressed and I see how homesick she already is.”
Mandy was delighted with how the event went and also showed the refugees the warehouse of goods to be shipped to Ukraine and Poland.
“It’s been great to see them meeting each other and people who can provide information and support to them.”
