Support for UA in UK

I've been in England for a little over a week. I miss Kharkiv - not the sirens, the drones and the bombs, of course, but the city, the people and, especially, Hell's Kitchen.

Ukraine is never far from my mind. I keep up to date with news regarding the war, and also the day-to-day happenings in Hell's Kitchen. I've had two lovely experiences of ongoing support for Ukraine in the UK. The first was in Trawden village, northern England, where I lived for some years, which has always been incredibly supportive of all I've tried to do to help Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full invasion, including hosting and supporting Ukrainians in the local area. I met with three of the volunteers in Trawden community shop and library, where we drank tea and ate fresh-baked cakes. I was presented with the generous proceeds from the Ukraine collection box in the shop and from hand-crafted items that are sold in the library and at craft fairs. The monies will be divided amongst charities in Kharkiv.

Mary (above left) continues to knit tiny teddy bears every day, which are sold for £1, all proceeds to support Ukraine. She tells me that they sell like hotcakes here, but she is especially happy to see how they bring a smile to the faces of children in Ukraine, and even more touched to know that soldiers like to have the bears as amulets. I'm happy to say that I'll be bringing some bears back with me!

A few days later my Mum and I visited a friend, Judy, in the city of Wolverhampton in the Midlands. Judy took us to the local Ukrainian community centre, which is linked to the Ukrainian Catholic church. Here, volunteers collect good quality clothing, pots and pans, dishes, bedding, etc, for refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine and settled in the area.




People can come and select whatever they need, at no charge. Ukrainians meet at the centre to have a chat, some food and a drink, and they have larger celebrations on special occasions. I sat down with a group of women; we managed to communicate in my limited Ukrainian and their limited English. A mother and her daughter, Tatyana, were from Donetsk. Tatyana said that people in the UK ask them how they are and they say that they're fine, which is superficially true, but their thoughts and hearts are always back in Ukraine. 

In Kharkiv (and, of course, many other places in Ukraine) the sirens continue to wail regularly and the bombs fall. Yesterday, around 2 a.m., two ballistic missiles landed in a residential area of Kharkiv, one near a multi-storey building and one on a road. As the mayor of Kharkiv said, when you stand near this crater you realise that it was a miracle there were no casualties - a few more meters and the missile would have struck a house; a short time later, there would be cars and buses on the road. 

I liked this hopeful little monument to peace in an English country garden in Abingdon, near Oxford. (I've done a lot of visiting in the past week!)


The translation is something like: May there be peace to mankind in the whole world.


To make a donation to the regular causes I support, please open PayPal and, when asked for email, enter sunflower_house@hotmail.co.uk

You can specify where you would like your money to go, otherwise I will send it where I think the need is greatest:

Adults For Children supports families displaced by the war.

Hell's Kitchen cooks daily, nutritious meals and bakes bread, for hospitals and other people in need.

Chervona Kalina cooks food, daily, for soldiers, and provides meals and psychological support for refugees from the region.

Franklin, Hell's Kitchen foreign volunteer coordinator, supports local soldiers and medics.

Fabric for camouflage netting, ghillies and stretchers/seamstress costs.

If you would like to donate to a charity that support animals - Animal Rescue Kharkiv.


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