Mothers’ Union – Hosting a Ukraine Guest

11th December 2023 | Charity, Churches

After our usual service in St. Wilfrid’s Church in Kibworth, members of the Mothers Union gathered for their October meeting in the Church Hall to hear a talk by Liz Scott on her recent experience of hosting a guest from the Ukraine.

Visas

At the beginning of 2022 when the Russians invaded Ukraine, many countries including the UK began to offer people fleeing the Ukraine shelter under the scheme ‘Homes for Ukraine’. Liz and her husband Peter offered to share their home and the process of being accepted began. This involved many hoops to jump through including being DBS checked but eventually they found someone on the Homes for Ukraine website – a young woman of 28 years, we will call M, with a Pakistani background who was at medical school in Kiev.  The Ukrainian government had asked all men over 60, women and children to leave if they could and apply for visas. M applied for a visa but had to get to the Polish border to leave. This was a chaotic and stressful experience as many people were waiting to leave, but M ended up in Switzerland and eventually arrived here in Kibworth in October 2022. Liz and Peter were able to keep in touch with her during her journey.

Four languages

M speaks four languages but had to pass the GMC English standard exam before she could continue her studies in the UK to become a doctor. Liz explained that the hardest part was understanding idioms and their meaning eg.’ burying the hatchet’ and ‘letting the cat out of the bag!’ However M settled into the Scott family and the village well: going to Church, cooking for the family and joining in family life. Liz and Peter and M had lots of support from people in the village and M was able to join in meet ups with other Ukrainians living locally. She and her family are now in Birmingham and M is continuing her medical training. Despite the trauma of her experience and the invasion of her country M found a new temporary home in our village thanks to Liz and Peter who were able to learn about the culture of Ukraine whilst M was integrating into UK society . Both Liz and Peter found this an enjoyable and uplifting experience.    Jacki Shorley