I felt great affinity with Rafael Behr’s article (‘Homes for Ukraine’ is just a slogan – as I found out by trying to welcome a refugee, 5 April). Another day has passed, and still no news on our visa application for a family in desperate need. My family are ready to give them safety and peace for as long as they need it. We have been ready since the day that we applied through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
While the press and public remain stunned into paralysis by the shocking reports from Bucha, we must surely also continue to draw attention to the need for active, immediate help for current survivors. We must recognise that even those who have crossed the Ukrainian border have access to these press images – this is ongoing, real-time, cumulative trauma that requires real-time intervention.
Our own sponsees pack themselves and their children on to overcrowded trains across Europe and head through the night as I type, to destinations unknown. I have friends whose sponsees are currently in Ukraine. They are being bombed now. Today. All sponsors like us are receiving frightened messages several times daily from our potential wards, creating stress and trauma in our own community too.
This hollow “process” has set British families up to take responsibility for an extraordinary amount of negotiation, paperwork and counsel, for which our only qualification, in most cases, is being compassionate human beings.
Ours is the only European government to have such a series of hurdles in place for these people fleeing the outrageous assault on Ukraine. For their sake, and ours, we must resolve this bizarre insistence on paper-shuffling, and act.
Kate Williams
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
• Rafael Behr was well justified in scarifying Whitehall obstruction to the Homes for Ukraine programme. In November 1956, I watched refugees from the Hungarian uprising being welcomed by Welsh family hosts as they climbed down from the train. Some still wore blood-stained bandages. This was because they had come straight from the Austrian frontier, admitted by the British government without visas, security checks or any pre-entry paperwork.
Older refugees will remember Women’s Voluntary Service and Red Cross volunteers marching into the Austrian reception camps and shouting: “Anyone want to come to Britain? Line up behind me!” Then it was into the buses, on to the airfield, and on to Britain within a few hours.
Selwyn Lloyd, then foreign secretary, told the Commons as the first contingent arrived: “Perhaps our most important contribution has been to allow 11,500 refugees to enter this country without preliminary examination. This is a greater number than any other country except Austria has been able to take.” Many more would follow, in those more generous days.
Neal Ascherson
London
• My son is British and is a teacher in Finland. He was very concerned at the plight of the population of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion at the end of February and felt he should do something about it. He arranged crowdfunding, contacted three colleagues, one of whom spoke Russian, rented two large vans and drove to the Polish border a couple of weeks ago. There he contacted a reception centre, and the party were allocated eight refugees, two of them disabled.
They drove back to Finland, travelling through three countries during their journey – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – and crossed the Gulf of Finland to arrive in Helsinki. Accommodation was arranged in Helsinki without problem.
There were no visas required and the refugees were welcomed in all four countries. One of the Ukrainians had a cat; as it could not be proved that the pet had had adequate vaccinations, there was a delay, but this was eventually resolved.
The successful rescue was a great relief to those fleeing the violence, and they were profusely grateful. If my son had set out from Britain on a similar mission, what do we think would be the chances of a favourable result?
Stephen Tyrer
Newcastle upon Tyne
• We have been hosting a mother and her nine-year-old son from Ukraine since 17 March. They have come to the UK on a family scheme visa through her husband, who lives in local shared accommodation and has nowhere to put them as of now.
The husband has been working in the area for years in construction and brought his family here after the war started. He was looking for a place for them to stay and we took them immediately when asked. However, to my dismay, I just learned that because they arrived through the family scheme, they do not qualify for any support from the government, nor do we qualify as their hosts for the government’s monthly £350 payment either.
The majority of people who are coming here through family schemes have nowhere to stay as their family members often work here seasonally and live in shared accommodation. The government should include all the Ukrainian refugees from the family scheme in the Homes for Ukraine programme, otherwise there will be many homeless, desperate refugees from a horrific war who have nowhere to go.
When I called our local council, they were not able to help at all other than suggest that our guests register as homeless and we evict them. They said that this is the only way for them to find long-term accommodation as there is almost nothing on the rental market. I find it absolutely horrific and sad that this is all that the UK can offer these refugees.
Name and address supplied
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