Mariia Horb travelled over 1,500 miles from her hometown of Kyiv to study in Manchester two years ago. Over the last four months, she has watched her country become a war zone on social media and news channels.
Her story is similar to so many other Ukrainian students who left their country to study and are unable to return. But in a situation that could leave them feeling helpless, students in Manchester and across the UK have banded together in an extraordinary way.
At the University of Manchester, students have resurrected the previously dormant Ukrainian Society, drawing in support from not just Ukrainians, but many at the institution who want to show support for their fellow students living through what for many of us is an unimaginable nightmare.
READ MORE: I'm doing the most depressing work of my life - but Manchester keeps me going
“I think the way the support works for most of us psychologically is twofold,” Mariia told the Manchester Evening News .
“First of all, for me personally it was the same as meeting people who understand you, because you cannot relate to literally anyone else. Nobody could understand what is happening more than Ukrainian nationals.”
One of the group’s main aims is to put on fundraising events and raise money for Ukrainians coming to live in Manchester and across the UK - they have so far raised around £6,000 for the British Ukrainian Aid Charity. Mariia said their efforts are helping her cope.
“The most frustrating thing is to not do anything because you can’t, so what we’ve done is to try to start the funding to do something. It’s a feeling that you actually can contribute.”
Martin Penov is a fellow student, and used to be president of the Bulgarian society. He has been helping Mariia and the other members of the newly formed Ukrainian Society build up their ranks and organise their events - including one from a particularly significant visitor recently.
The society, in connection with other Ukrainian societies across the UK, and well-established academics based at Manchester, hosted a Q&A with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently. It was a chance for students and the wider public to ask him questions, as well as a good way for the society to encourage more support from their fellow students.
Martin spoke of the speed at which the need for the society - and the support it gives to Ukrainian students - grew.
“On the 24th [of February] when the actual war started, I was just walking to a lecture or something and I saw the news, and I was like, okay, no lecture today.
“And then went to the Students’ Union and started doing some work for a few hours and had a meeting with the officers. At the time, the executive officers and Students' Union decided we needed to do something now.
“The society was set up and the fundraiser started. So it's actually really really quick compared to how long a bureaucratic process can be.
“We entered crisis mode overnight. It's actually been amazing to see actually, people come together. People who have had no connection with Ukraine before.”
However, Martin did point out that much of the support the society has received from non-Ukrainians is from fellow Eastern European students, who are likely more familiar with Ukraine’s situation.
“Most of the volunteers we had are predominantly from Eastern European societies. So Polish, Lithuanian, Romania, Bulgarian, Czech and Slovak. And that's normal. That's expected because obviously these people know about what's happening in this part of the world.”
But both Mariia and Martin want to call on those who don’t have established connections to Ukraine to listen to people who know the country and understand the conflict, highlighting the implications it has for the rest of the continent.
“It's easy to say okay, yeah, this is one of those places where there's a conflict now and just forget about it, but actually, it's still going. It's still right on our doorstep,” Martin said.
“There's still millions of people scattered around Europe, from Ukraine. There are still some who are coming to the UK, or have had families and communities in the UK for many, many years. So we shouldn't just forget about it.
“It'll have to end eventually. And it'll be something that affects everyone on the continent like we can just, we don't have the privilege to close our eyes and just pretend it's not there.”
“It's not a part of the world which people usually care about too much,” he added.
“But if there is something you really want to tell people is listen, like actually listen to the people from this region, because this type of these types of things have been talked about for many years.
“We had the first invasion in 2014 with Crimea, Georgia before and so on, but like, these countries have been warning about something like this happening for many, many years. And no one took that seriously at the time.
“Now it's all over the news or was all over the news for like a month. Most political groups have some kind of point of view on what's happening, and it usually has nothing to do with Ukraine itself or the people there. It's usually just to fit their own views on either Europe or Russia.
“So actually, you know, just listen to the people who know best what's happening in their home.”
Mariia encouraged people to keep up with the news and not to forget about the conflict raging in her home country.
“It's important to remind yourself, to actually read the news, and know what’s going on,” she said. “Because it's not less important. The same thing is happening now that was happening a few months before, when it was all over the news.”
The academic year is coming to a close, but Mariia is keen to encourage students to join the Ukrainian Society come September.
“It's really reassuring to see the community come together to support each other in probably the worst circumstances imaginable,” she said.
“And we will be back next year!”
READ NEXT:
