As they celebrated their first Christmas in England, it's hard to comprehend what Alina Muhsin and her family have been through over the past 12 months. Putin's invasion of their home country, Ukraine, saw Alina, her husband Munadil, mother, Halyna, and their two children, Amir and Ariana, forced to leave behind life as they knew it and head for the Polish border.
Following a terrifying journey across central Europe, the Muhsins were finally offered sanctuary in a small town outside Bury, some 1,700 miles from their hometown of Kyiv. And the Manchester Evening News reports that after learning of the family's plight through a colleague at work, Karen Hopwood and Jim Eynon welcomed them into their home in July.
At the time Alina and Munadil spoke next to no English, and their children were timid and scared. Some four months later, the family have moved into their own home in Ainsworth, Bury, and Alina and Munadil rely on Google Translate a lot less. Their children have settled into a new school and have began making friends.
