Help My Family From War Torn Irpin, Ukraine

No-one thought anything like this could ever happen in our lifetimes, however in the past two weeks my cousin Iryna and her family have fled from their home in war-torn Ukraine and needs our help.

 

 

Iryna's story reads like a letter from last centuries World Wars...

 

Iryna is a landscape designer that has lived in Irpin since 2011, where she married her husband, a local chef in a prestigious restaurant, and together they raised their three-year-old son Jacob. Irpin was a thriving satellite city to the northwest of Kiev. She describes it in her own words as “a very beautiful city… there were many new houses, young families with children, a beautiful infrastructure and many local parks.” On the 24th of February, 2022 at 8 a.m. the city and the lives of everyone living there changed forever.

 

For the first 24 hours as the war started, they stayed in their basement with nothing more than their personal documents and the barest of essentials. As the shelling and bombing intensified during the night they made the hard choice to leave their home for the safety of a village 100km away. The family hid for five days with other families escaping the horrors of the cities.

 

Her husband helped construct a military checkpoint and manned it with the men in the village. At first the people from the cities believed they were far enough away from the fighting and would be able to return home soon after the conflict ended. Those following days proved to be full of false hope. The Russian military advanced and the shelling around the cities and villages worsened. They realised the truth as they witnessed the fighting closing in. Iryna and her husband together made a heart-breaking decision and knew they had to try to get their three-year-old son out of the country before it was too late.

 

 

Iryna had a terrifying journey trying to flee from Western Ukraine into a friendly neighbouring country that would take them. During this period they drove through the horrors of open war and past many close artillery explosions. They had been warned that the Russian military were targeting cars fleeing the country. Witnessing this brutality first-hand as they travelled the roads headed west. Living in constant fear of helicopters and drones flying overhead and the sounds of gunfire from ambushes on the roads. They chose to drive the backroads and stay off the highways whenever they could. 

 

They were pinned down for a further two nights in a city near the border as air raid sirens prevented them from travelling any further. After so many days travelling without a proper place to rest and recover Jacob fell ill with a dangerously high temperature of 39.4 c (103 f). They were without a hospital or medical centre, trapped inside a country at war. The five kilometre crossing at the border started for them at 8 p.m. on the night of the 5th of March. It was the next day before they were allowed to cross. On the 6th of March mid-day they had finally made it safely across the border and into the Bucovina region of northern Romania.

 

 

It was at this point that Iryna and Jacob needed to say goodbye to their father and husband, as he stayed behind to defend his country in the ongoing conflict.

 

After being treated by an ambulance at the border and given the few remaining medicines they had to help with Jacob’s fever, Iryna was told she needed to take her son immediately to the hospital. Once there he needed intravenous medications to help him recover and rehydrate. Thankfully, he is starting to feel better and is a great support for his mummy on the long journey they are now undertaking.

 

 

What's The Plan?

 

Iryna is now travelling northwest from Bucovina, Romania with Jacob through Budapest, Bratislava and Prague. Her current destination is Berlin, Germany. She has none of her possessions, clothing, or personal items for herself or her son - apart from what they could carry in their hands.

 

Like all of us watching events unfold on our televisions and phones we felt helpless and angry about this situation. We knew that our assistance alone wasn't going to be enough. Setting up a fundraiser to help her with as much financial support as possible was the best thing to do. Our hope is this also gives our friends and families watching this tragedy unfold an opportunity to directly help change the lives of people in the greatest of need.

 

We are raising as much money as possible to help her and Jacob with everything they will need. We can only imagine being forced to leave behind everything you own and flee to a country that is not your own without your husband by your side? The mounting costs of trying to have some semblance of a normal life during this time? Any donation is GREATLY appreciated. We will be transferring her money via Western Union as soon as possible after she arrives in Berlin. 

 

We understand that Iryna and Jacob’s story is just one of the millions of tragedies unfolding throughout the Ukraine, however she is our family and we want to do the most positive thing we can to help her and her family. If we are able to reach our target we will donate any further earnings to help other Ukrainian families directly affected by the war.

 

We are sharing this story with as many of our amazing friends and family here in the United Kingdom, back home in Canada (James), Lithuania (Laura, Greta and Angelika) and all around the world. Please feel free to forward the link for Iryna’s story onto as many people as you can think of that may want to help. Thank you for reading Iryna’s story and thank you for your generosity!

 

Lots of love,

Laura & James

*Updates - Saturday 12th of March - after arriving in Germany on Thursday the 10th of March Iryna was offered an empty studio apartment in Halle (150KM outside of Berlin and closer to Leipzig).  Due to language translation difficulties (Iryna doesn't speak German) this offer was mistakenly confused as a free place to stay. Unfortunately this was not the offer and the landlord wants her to immediately start paying rent for the accommodation. We have been able to send her some of the money from your generous donations to help her with her current situation. She has also used some of the money on essential items for her son - namely a new push chair to be able to travel longer distances on foot. We are currently helping her to find options for more suitable accommodations. 

Wednesday 16th of March - Iryna is still in Germany and has moved to another home temporarily. She is being hosted by a family with 4 children of their own in the city of Halle. We've had exciting news and she has decided she is going to apply for a UK visa for herself and Jacob to reside here in London!!! We understand that there are considerable costs to fly them over and help them resettle into a big city like London however after exploring other options we knew that being close to family during this time was the most important thing to consider. This good news is all 100% possible because of the donations she has received from all of you. 

We will continue to provide updates through this page. 

 

#MyDearBigFamily #PrayForUkraine #StandWithUkraine #StopTheWar