By Evie Smith-Adams
As the war in Ukraine continues, the UK has started to welcome refugees. People around the country who have spare rooms have invited Ukrainian families into their homes. As of May 17th, more than 53,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK after fleeing from their home country due to the Russian invasion. Some people have travelled here using family visas and others via sponsorship schemes.
There have been many delays, however, and many people who signed up through the government scheme are feeling frustrated as they haven’t seen any movement with their application so far. They want to provide help but they feel they aren’t being given the opportunity.
Homes for Ukraine
Since the Homes for Ukraine scheme began there has been reported 2,123 visas granted for refugees to come to London. There is no official documentation on how many have been granted for the Holloway Road are but the closest place with official documentation is the north London borough of Camden, which has had 107 visas granted.
Whilst this is a good indication of how many refugees are actually in London there aren’t any officially released figures. We do know however that before the Russian invasion began it was reported that there were almost 19,000 Ukrainians living in London.
The benefits of London
London has many benefits – Photo credits Pixabay
Homes for Ukraine isn’t just welcoming refugees into London; they are being offered homes in cities, towns and villages across the country. Many of the refugees travelling to the UK, however, are asking for accommodation in the capital, where there are more job and educational opportunities. A larger Ukrainian community in London also provides more opportunities to connect. Many refugees, however, are ending up in small villages around the UK.
This is how they’re faring…
The small village of Clare in Suffolk has been doing what it can to support those affected by the war in Ukraine.
Clare, Suffolk – Photo by Evie Smith-Adams
Clare is the smallest recorded town in Suffolk however it has all the immediate facilities families need, including a nursery, primary school, secondary school, supermarket, GP’s surgery, park, and several cafés. Clare is surrounded by other small villages and is a half-hour drive from the nearest large town, Bury St Edmunds. It has bus services to the surrounding towns however they are irregular and cost between £6-8 for an adult return.
Whilst Clare has the basic amenities, in comparison to a big city such as London it does not have as much to offer, in particular to refugees who will be seeking jobs or education.
Clare has already shown an interest in supporting refugees before the invasion of Ukraine began. The Clare Baptist Church works in partnership with a volunteer group called ADRA, which collects essential supplies donated by the local community, including tents, clothing, and toiletries. Volunteers then travel over to Dunkirk and spend the day supporting the ADRA workers.
So far, six Ukrainian families have been welcomed into the town, in addition to another four families in surrounding villages. More are due to arrive in the coming weeks. Meet-ups have been organised for the Ukrainian families to enable them to meet each other and to get familiar with the local area. These have been taking place in Clare in several different locations. These include the local country park and a local café.
Sarah Sainsbury is currently hosting a Ukrainian family and is also involved in supporting other Ukrainian families in the local area. “We met our guests via the main Facebook forum as even now there is no government matching system in place,” she said.
She and other members of the town have been supporting the refugees in a variety of ways, including language classes at the church, social events such as pub meet-ups in the evening and daytime picnics, and helping people find a jobs.
As a host she has also been providing personal support to the family living with her, which has included help and advice with “applications, universal credit and other paperwork”.
Things that need more work
Sarah believes things could be improved to make refugees’ lives easier, such as improved job opportunities and cheaper transport links. “Job opportunities, although we’ve had a few, we probably don’t have enough it would help if employers maybe got on board more and could offer more work or more flexible work,” she said.
Clare only has a CO-OP supermarket, which whilst convenient tends to be expensive and also doesn’t have as much on offer in comparison to a larger supermarket. Many of the Ukrainian families would make use of more financially accessible supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, which are a 25-minute drive away.
Whilst Clare is doing what it can to help find jobs there are only a small number of businesses in the area and unfortunately, that means there are not many opportunities available. The benefit of being placed in London rather than a smaller town or village is the fact that there are many more job opportunities.
For example, in Archway, North London, near Holloway Road there is a construction company called Murphy which is working with the home office to offer jobs to Ukrainian refugees. So far they are offering up to as many as 175 jobs. This is a great opportunity for a large number of refugees and unfortunately smaller areas simply can’t do this.
A solution to the issue of transport?
Transport links, on the other hand, are something the town is working to improve. Clare resident Julie Elizabeth has been offering to drive the Ukrainians to and from the nearest larger towns. “One of the challenges of living in a small town is the expense of public transport and the lack of it, so having a large people carrier I’ve offered to drive people to the supermarket and English lessons,” she says.
While her 8-seat vehicle can shuttle quite a few people around when needed, this is only a temporary fix, especially as more Ukrainians will be arriving in Clare soon.
Sarah Sainsbury spoke about how she intends to speak to local transport companies to see what they will be offering Ukrainian refugees in terms of support.
In London Ukrainian refugees are receiving free travel on the London Underground and Bus Services, there is hope that this will soon be the same in smaller towns and villages and they will be able to travel on all public transport for free.
Leave a Reply