A Ukrainian refugee who has been homed by a generous local family has spoken of her delight at her new life in the capital.
But despite having nothing but praise for the family who have given her a home, Julia, who wishes to go by her first name, says the Homes for Ukraine programme was a slow and complicated process.
Julia, 24, comes from Chernigiv, a city in northern Ukraine. She told Edinburgh Live of her harrowing journey to gaining her new life in Scotland. She said: “My family and I were staying in my home town for two weeks and all of the sudden the city started getting bombed especially at night since it is pretty close to the border with Russia.”
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At first, her family was not planning to flee the city. Shortly after, the water supply, central heating, electricity, and mobile signal were all cut. “The last straw was the stadium by our building that got destroyed,” she said.
Like any other person of her age, Julia had huge dreams, career and personal objectives, but she says it all 'went down the drain' after February 24. After she moved her family to a safer region in the western Ukraine, Julia found out about the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
She said: “I just knew that I should go. The main challenge of the program was to find a match - host family. The application itself was easy. Looking for hosts was difficult.” Her mother composed a message asking for her daughter to be brought to a secure location. The feedback they received was overwhelming - more than 100 responses. Then Julia started her search for the host family.
“When I first talked to my now host family, it just felt right. I am 24 but I feel like a child again. I feel safe and protected,” she said.
Julia suggests that all the Ukrainians who want to come to the UK but are feeling hesitant about joining Homes for Ukraine should text and video chat with a few host families just to ensure everyone is on the same page.
She added: “I also recommend discussing finances. Some families would expect you to pay for the groceries, some would not.” However, Julia and her family claim that the government’s organisation of this program was not as efficient as they hoped.
Courtnay McLeod, Julia’s host mother and her legal UK sponsor, says it was an obvious choice for their family of five to provide shelter for one of the Ukrainian refugees. I signed up for the government scheme. It became clear quite quickly that scheme is going to be very slow and not very efficient,” she said.
Instead of waiting to be matched with someone through the government, she went onto Facebook group and shortly after joining, a post by Julia’s mother appeared. “It was pretty much the first post I have seen,” Courtnay said.
After a few video calls with Julia, the family did everything they could to get her to Edinburgh as soon as possible. "It’s not about the numbers, it’s about real people, real families and issues. Once we connected with Julia online, our commitment was 100 per cent,” she added.
The first meeting at the airpot was sentimental. Courtnay said: “Just felt surreal. Going to the airport knowing that you are going to come back with somebody who is going to be part of your family is quite a thing.”
After Julia landed in Edinburgh, the biggest surprises for her were the Scottish weather and double deck busses. According to Courtnay, Julia was an ideal match for their family.
“Before I would have described my family as a very solid five and it has been very easy to become a family of six. One of the benefits of having Julia here is - she showed us that family can be redefined.”
Courtnay advises all Ukrainian refugees to stay patient as “the program is painfully slow.” She adds: "Once you are here, the Scottish welcome is very heartfelt and very genuine. But there is a lot of bureaucracy for Ukrainian people to get through to feel that welcome.”
McLeaod wishes the government had been faster and bolder. "It’s not that difficult to get people who need safety to a safe place. We made it harder than it should've been,” she added.
A UK Government spokesman said: “More than 55,500 people have arrived through the Homes for Ukraine scheme – showing the steps we have taken to speed up the visa process are working.
“We will continue to streamline the service and act swiftly to rectify errors where they occur.”
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