From Ukraine to the UK

Brenda and her family opened their doors to Ukrainian refugee Valeriy and haven't looked back

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We saw pictures of the elderly, some in shopping trolleys being pushed to safety; others in wheelbarrows; soldiers carrying frail men over fragile bridges. We saw brows furrowed with worry, tears trailing down wrinkled faces. We knew there were many people volunteering to host families with children. Were people also offering homes to pensioners?

We filled in the forms; we sent our profiles off and we waited for a match - a modern day matchmaking between strangers.

It seemed to take forever before we found Valeriy, and still the bombs fell. A retired man, he had been evacuated from Slavyionsk because it is in the front line in the Donbas. He was sent to Lviv where it was safe. A bed was found for him in what had been a kindergarten; he shared the room with strangers, and breathed a sigh of relief, as did we.

But the safety in Lviv disappeared, as bombs and rockets fell on the once peaceful town. He was desperate to leave; we were desperate for him to find sanctuary.

The process of "inviting" a refugee to live with you in the UK is not the easiest. It involves a great deal of form filling and information giving... and some of this information was in Ukrainian!

At this point, we developed a strong and lasting relationship with Mr Google, who was able to translate - not always correctly. Much to our amusement, I became "Bertha" for a while, as Mr Google had obviously never before heard of "Brenda".