A group of refugees who fled Ukraine this year have volunteered to help transform a Swansea hospital courtyard so that burns patients can enjoy the outdoors with their family. After arriving in the city in March, the Ukrainian refugees, who are mostly women and young children, have been hosted by local people who have opened their "homes and hearts".
Wanting to give back to the community who embraced them, Ukrainian refugees have volunteered at Morriston Hospital to help transform a courtyard garden for Burns and Plastics Unit patients who may be immobile and stuck on the ward for a long time. Thanks to the help of volunteers, these patients will now get the chance to be walked out or taken outside in beds and chairs to enjoy the garden with visitors.
Many of the volunteers have lost their homes in Ukraine and were forced to leave their partners and families behind. Bohdana Bahlay, a Ukrainian volunteer who has lived in Wales for 11 years and worked as a specialist cardiac psychologist, said that many of the refugees she volunteers with are from Eastern Ukraine which is 40km from the Russian border. "The refugees here would obviously like to be back home in Ukraine, but it is not safe as the conflict is still going on," she said. "Their homes have been blown up in the conflict."
