It’s Refugee Week this week, in fact, it's World Refugee Day today, but finding host families for Ukrainian refugees is a concern every day for the Support for Ukraine project team at Hereford Diocese. The diocese has been partnering with Herefordshire Council and Citizens UK to support host families and Ukrainian guests since the start of the war in Ukraine. Over 250 families in the diocese have opened their homes to more than 800 Ukrainians already.
“Our diocese is living up to Jesus’ call to welcome the stranger and welcome the child. This is one of the most active projects in the country,” explains Lesley Grady, Project Officer for the diocese. “We have the highest ratio of guests per capita, across the whole country, and we’re one of the few remaining projects that are still having regular meetings with Citizens UK, as the commitment has faded everywhere else. We also have one of the most supportive networks in the country, meaning guests land on their feet when they come to host families here.”
Much of the networking is based around the churches of St Peter and St James in Hereford (SPSJ), where Sandra Zhukova is Joint Ukrainian Project Lead. She says, “ The generosity of the community here has been incredible. Not just opening their homes to refugees, but volunteering and donating essential items. But we still have new families looking for people to host them, each with a heartbreaking story of loss and dislocation.” Top of mind this week for Sandra are three new families looking for hosts:
- An elderly couple, Liudmyla and Yuriy, have experienced almost daily missile strikes in their home town of Kharkiv, one of the cities that was almost surrounded by Russian troops early in the invasion.
- Alina and Anton, both agronomists, have a 7-month-old baby boy. They were forced to flee Bakhmut early in the war when their house was destroyed.
- Kate has two daughters - Viktoriia is 10 years old and loves art and dancing and Veronika is a calm, friendly 6-year-old. After two years clinging on, Kate now just wants to get her daughters to safety.
Wendy Coombey, Support for Ukraine Project Manager at the diocese, explains how recent changes in the law have increased the need for host families: “Even though about 80% of our Ukrainian guests have moved into their own accommodation by now, they can no longer sponsor relatives to join them here. All applicants under the Homes for Ukraine programme must now be sponsored by a British host family.”
“Citizens UK, who we talk with every week, still has thousands of people waiting to flee Ukraine,” adds Lesley Grady. “We are so immensely grateful to all the host families who have stepped up so far, but we ask people thinking about it to please come forward and contact us by email. The need is as great as it ever was, as the relentless bombing continues, but there's a really supportive community here.”
To find out more about Support for Ukraine and the Homes for Ukraine scheme, please visit our website here.
Pictured are some of the Ukrainian community and volunteers at the Three Counties Show last week.
RESOURCES AND INFORMATION: Besides our website, there is lots more info available to help you make a decision about hosting or other ways to support our Ukrainian visitors. Refugee Week is organised by United Kingdom for UNHCR and many other agencies including Counterpoints Arts with a theme this year of “Our Home”. Welcome Churches has liturgical and activity resources on its website for Refugee Sunday, and there are more including prayers on the Church of England website's Migration page and Topical Prayers page. The Hereford Diocese Support for Ukraine programme is grateful to our partners Herefordshire Council and Citizens UK.