It has now been a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, and millions of people were forced to leave their home and country to protect themselves and their loved ones from the ensuing war.
One of those people is Vikki Ishcheriakova, who fled the country with her mother and daughter, and has started working at the University of Sunderland as her family adapt to life in the North East.
The family are from Poltava, a historic city in the centre of Ukraine and they were able to take refuge in the UK through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, that Vikki found out about through Facebook.
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Vikki has spoken about how she felt when the war started, and the process of applying for the scheme and being paired up with a British family that have volunteered to bring Ukrainian refugees to live with them.
“I would hear the sirens and feel such a sense of panic. You didn’t know where the next missile would land. I just remember that horrible sound, and the desperate feeling of wanting to hide, but never feeling that anywhere was safe.
“I read about the British scheme, Homes for Ukraine, on Facebook,” explain Vikki. “I found a sponsor, a wonderful British family in Ryhope who opened their doors to my family. I am so appreciative of them for giving us a home, for their total support. They are our guardian angels", she said.
It has now been 10 months since they made the move, and Vikki and her family are settling in well to life on Wearside. Vikki had spent the last 20 years working as a lawyer in Ukraine, and she now has a job in the apprenticeship team at Sunderland University.
Vikki went on to talk about her experience in Sunderland so far, and how her, her daughter and her mother have all been able to settle in to their new circumstances.
“Everyone at the University of Sunderland is so friendly and supportive. I feel like they are my second family.
“My daughter is in Year 5 at St Patrick’s Primary School in Ryhope, and she’s very happy there. She’s really improved her English skills, and she loves mathematics. She didn’t speak English perfectly before we came here. In just six months she learnt to speak proper English.
“My mother is 62, which in Ukraine makes you a pensioner, but in England she says she is a young lady again. She’s studying English at college, which she has found difficult, as she had never spoken English before.
“She had her own house with a garden in Ukraine, but here of course it’s very different for her. She misses her house, but thank god, our home is still there in Poltava. Other Ukrainians who have come to Sunderland from the Donetsk region have had their homes destroyed. They have nothing to go back to when the war finally ends.”
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