A Ukrainian family of 10 have now settled into their new Cambridgeshire home donated by a local man.
Valeriia Starkova, 37, praised the “overwhelming” kindness of the Cambridgeshire village after they escaped Kharkiv amid Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
“We are so grateful,” she said. “I feel protected. I feel safe. I’m going to cry. Overwhelming. I didn’t expect that. When we first decided to come here I thought it would be much much harder for us but volunteers helped us a lot.”
The family of 10, spanning four generations, moved into their new home last week after a 22-day journey.
They are living in a home bought by businessman Mick Swinhoe, 52.
He had initially planned to use it as a “project house” but he kindly offered it to the Ukrainian family to live in after connecting with them on Facebook.
Ms Starkova said Mr Swinhoe’s family “helped us a lot”, ordering new beds and mattresses, and putting carpet on the previously bare floors.
She said a local councillor got in touch to say their neighbours also wanted to help and within a week everything on their list had been provided.
“They donated some duvets, pillows, all bedding we need, all kitchen appliances, basically everything that we need, even some food,” said Ms Starkova.
One neighbour had offered to give them a car and there had been offers of bikes for the three children, she added.
Ms Starkova said her two children Alikhan, 10, and Kamila, 12, and her half-sister Miroslava Starkova are a “little bit stressed” about starting at a new school.
“They said ‘I’m not going to understand anything’, ‘I will get the bad marks’,” she said. “I said don’t worry about that, it’s all right, you will learn English very fast.
“Michael’s kids came here yesterday, my daughter had a birthday, they really did well.
“I thought because of the language barrier they would be bored but the kids played, they translated with a Google translator, and they played some games. It was fun. Kids are quite relaxed. Not as stressed as we were in Ukraine of course.”
She said the school has offered to help with uniforms and stationery.
Her brother Roman Starkov, 38, who is a British citizen, helped his family through the visa process to come to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
The software developer, who lives in Cambridge, said: “I’m thinking that right now we’re just getting all the people’s charity because there’s nobody else here.
“Everybody wants to help but we’re the only family here. That needs to change. So many people want to help, we just need to spread it more fairly among all the other families who need help.”
Noting that his sister is inquiring about an opportunity to work at a local supermarket, he added: “That’s the goal – to become self-sufficient.
“Charity’s nice but really the goal is to be self-sufficient.”
Mr Swinhoe said it was “a lot of hard work” to get the project house ready and described offers of support as “heartwarming”.
He added: “The family pitched in unbelievably and worked so hard to furnish it.”
“Everyone’s united,” he said. “It’s enhanced my feeling of living here – I’d never really realised the depth of support in the village.
“It’s a very tolerant village, a very broad-minded village. It’s made me realise it’s actually such a nice place to live.”
He said his two daughters, aged 11 and 15, could end up being friends with the Ukrainian children “until they are 90”.
