Getting Marina and her family to safety

This is a story of international cooperation between a rapidly-expanding group of friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues who have come together with one shared goal: to collaborate as a team by pooling our wits, resources and networks in any way we can in the face of this terrible invasion of Ukraine with one motivation: to do something. We cannot bear to do nothing.

 

Our specific goal: help Jason get his Ukrainian friends Artyom, Marina and their two young children (aged 3, and 11) out of Kyiv in Ukraine and to safety in Wales, UK, where a community is ready to help them to stay for as long as it is too dangerous for them to return home.

 

Twenty years ago, Jason lived and worked for 5 years in Kyiv with his young family. They made many friends during this time, some of whom he has been able to stay in touch with. Like the rest of the country, right now these friends and their families are in real danger. Last week Jason made contact with Artyom and Marina as they sheltered with their young children in a basement in Vinnitsa, Central Ukraine, where they had fled from Kyiv a few days earlier. When it became apparent that they risked being permanently trapped in the country as the situation deteriorated around them, Jason reached out to his network and his family to see whether there was any possible way we could help them to safety. From this moment, there was only one possible way forward: help them in any way that we could.

 

This morning, 5th March, less than one week after we started collaborating, Artyom, Maryna and their 2 younger children finally crossed into Poland after several days of driving and hours and hours of queuing at the border. Many things had to fall into place to get this far, including some vital help from some incredibly generous Polish contacts from within our group who have dropped everything to help Artyom and Marina, even though they have never met them before.

 

The most amazing news is that Artyom was also allowed across the border with the rest of his family; as the father of a young child with disabilities, it was deemed that he should accompany his wife and young children to give them the support that they will need. Many other families have had to part with their fathers at the border so we are just so grateful that this was not the case for Artyom and the family. In addition to the 2 young children who are with them, Artyom and Marina also have a 21 year-old son and an 18 year-old daughter; despite the increasing risk they have both remained behind in Kyiv to do what they can to help those around them.

 

Marina and Artyom’s still-unfinished story is just one of millions of stories of heartbreak, fear and displacement that are happening right across Ukraine at the moment. It is a helpless, hopeless situation, yet in a strange way it is empowering to feel that we can at least do something to help, even in a small way like this.

 

While we are just thrilled that Artyom and Marina and the children are out of immediate danger, their journey has only just begun: the first step will be to help them fly to Paris, where they have been invited to stay with Hedy, a friend of Jason’s sister living there, until we can pave the way for them to come to the UK longer-term once the UK visa situation is resolved; after this, we will need to help provide the practical and financial support that the family will need as they try to rebuild and plan for what happens next.

 

Would you like to become a key part of helping this family to rebuild their lives and look to the future? If so, you would be joining hands with a truly international group of individuals from all walks of life who, together, can help to make a real difference in this one family’s life. And we already have a feeling it won't stop with one family; we are open to helping other families, where we can, and we already know of several other families who have had to take these incredibly difficult decisions to leave their homeland and their loved ones for the safety of their young children and begin challenging journeys into the unknown like Artyom and Marina’s.

 

Whatever level of support you feel able to give you will be making a real difference. We'll keep you posted every step of the way as you help write one small but important success story, and in so doing keep us all believing in the power of humanity.