Refugees who fled Ukraine and Afghanistan tell Metro their stories

Yeah, I was born in Kiev, so I'm a city girl. And now when I moved to Buckinghamshire, it's very different, Nice green. It's not far from London, where I can have both of the world's in the months, weeks, days before the invasion. What was that like for you? So we had this conversations, right? Nobody believed that it can happen. And some people were more worried about it. I was less worried about it. I didn't I didn't believe that something like that can happen. And I was thinking, OK, well, if people need to to to be ready, you know, to prepare suitcase for this thing or, you know, buy some extra food, that's all right. I didn't do it. And so what's the future hold for you and your family? What do you hope for? This is a very difficult question. I'll tell you why. When the war started in a few months, I had like discussion with my friends and we were thinking when the war will stop and be over and we guest dates, you know, and I put this date into my calendar and some people were thinking, OK, it's just a few months. And some people were more pessimistic, less optimistic. And it was very painful when I had these days popping up reminding me about this discussion. And I don't have any more reminding. And the war is still here. So, you know, I'm trying not to think about it. Frankly speaking, I decided like, I'll think about it when the war will be over. And how did you get involved in UNHCR? Well, they, they have the campaign and I believe this is very beautiful. It's very beautiful idea. You know, I'm working now as a project manager myself and organising events and I think to speak about things through stories is very powerful because you, you, you can give facts, right? OK, there are, this is a survey, for example, I, I've been doing a few surveys myself with Ukraine's. These are needs. This is So what we have to do, you know, But how do you feel the person, how do you understand it? Doing it through stories and especially with involving the T. So it's like a conversation like it's making us closer and it's giving us opportunity to open up and do it in a relaxed way, just, you know, remind you about peaceful time we had. So it's really, really great thing. And when they suggested me to do it, I was so happy to be involved. What tea did you bring today And, and what does that mean to you? Well, it's a ginger, lemon, mint and honey tea. I couldn't drink really like black teas because especially after like 2:00. So because I wouldn't sleep well. That's why I love all kind of herbal teas and this one is one of my favorite because it's so good for you. It's so rich in flavour and it also looks very beautiful. I do it in the transparent like a cattle at home and I enjoy how it looks, how it develop the this colour, how it's changing. And I think it's it's good if you are fine with ginger because I know some people don't like ginger, then I think it's it would be a hit for many people to do that. But frankly speaking, I think I tried it for the first time in being in India, this combination, even though India is well known for, you know, black teas and so on. I tried it in India as well, and I realized that it was very popular in Ukraine to this kind of tea. It's very popular in, well, at least in Kiev, it's very popular. And So what needs to change so that refugees like yourself are better supported in the UK? Thank you for asking that. So like, I have a degree in clinical psychology, I can work with Ukrainians here, right, To like support them. We are officially have more than 10 million traumatised people. Now I think you can multiply it by three. Anybody needs support, but officially I couldn't do it here. And officially dentists couldn't help other people, even Ukrainians. Doctors couldn't work here as doctors. So people who had this, who are highly educated, who were spending so much time in their lives by, you know, doing it, they come here and they couldn't work like, like, like this. I have a few friends of mines that used to have their businesses back in Ukraine. And here now they are cleaning hotels because they, they don't want to, you know, to do nothing. They, they want to do something. And this is painful for me. I understand that without knowing language, it's really difficult. At the same time, I believe that there are some professions when where they can at least support Ukrainians, right? It's really painful to get your appointment to fix your teeth. People are going like to Europe or there are so many stories when they are going all the way back to Ukraine to fix it because it's so painful. So they are under this danger because they couldn't hold it right anymore. I was six years old when I came to the Uki was born in Afghanistan. I would say I would remember a lot of it, but I was very young. I just remember being a kid, being the youngest and getting picked on a lot, as most young kids do, and having a lot of fun with family back home. Big family was the key, my dad had like 5-6 brothers, 3-4 aunties, same one mum and it was always families get together fun in the background. I was partially aware of the surrounding of the Taliban and my mum was always a big fan of women's educations because it was the same with my grandma. They're very strong females and they always had a voice. And I remember when my mum gave a speech and then a few days later we were abruptly had to leave Afghanistan because they were given a death order to my mum. And so after you fled Afghanistan, what was what was the journey like? I believe it took 18 months, is that right? Yes, it took around 18 months. It's being a kid, you don't really understand borders or the scale of things, how to get to cross countries. And so I remember being in a what I call a lorry within a lorry and compartment, leaving Afghanistan, smuggling out, going through countries and countries which felt like hours and days. And then ending up in Moscow, Russia, which for a kid, first time being out of Afghanistan is most likely one of the most scariest places you could end up with dark, cold snow and not a single language that you can speak with people. We were around Moscow, Russia for about 6 months. Oddly, I picked up a few Russian words. I forgot them all now. We used to watch a lot of David Hasselhoff. He was very popular in Russian TV. And then from there we tried to make our journey to the UK because my oldest brother had a severe heart condition which we knew My parents knew because they told me doctors that the only operation he can have is in the US and the UK. So we went through many countries across Europe and many failures attempt, many being stolen, robbed at gunpoint until finally through compartments and a container to the UK. It is a journey which probably can only be explained visually because things which happened in it. When you look back though, wow, that's crazy. So tell me what the asylum process was like for you. So once we came to the UK, we went straight to came through the boats to Dover and then we were in Kent for a few months and Cardiff, South Wales was doing this huge inviting refugee families down. We were one of the first peoples to come down, which was kind of amazing because everyone was so welcoming from charities, communities. And I think it was the only time where I sort of put the guards down and went, I can be a kid again. Like I always remember walking into my primary school not knowing to know of English. The first thing I did with someone was have a weird kick of a football. And then you sort of go, OK, I can be a kid again and have a normal life. I think we all settled in very quickly in Cardiff. We call it home and probably gives away my Welsh accent a bit. But yeah, it, it was so welcoming at the time. And how did you get involved with UNHCR? I had a weird approach. I will say this. So I had a message saying, do you like tea? And I went, yes, this is like very strange. And then they told me about the campaign and being for the day job, being marketing. I was going, this makes perfect sense because there's nothing more worldly known than having a cup of tea. And straight away you could have a lot of conversation with tea. Even with my parents, I was going, you know, do we have different types of tea? You know, what types of tea do you like? And oddly, I always tell people I don't like milk with tea. And it sort of goes, people go, oh, OK, that's a bit strange. And it's something so natural, so and everyone can get involved with. So tell me about the event today, what you're most excited about. I, I hope that, you know, as, and we can sort of invite hope and give people confidence and open up conversations over a cup of tea, as simple as that, because numbers scare people. But I think sometimes if you put a face or a story behind it and then people open up more and they understand what was the struggle, what you actually come here for. Hopefully it won't be just in the pop ups. People can join in wherever they are. And I always encourage people to go, OK, have an open conversation. It doesn't have to be about this week or next week. I think opening up with a cup of tea is quite simple and we need to do more of it and what needs to change so that asylum seekers and refugees like yourself are better supported in the Uki think it's just being heard is what is missing at the moment. Like we can all check out numbers and figures. When I think if we still go behind the data and look at those people, it sort of makes us understand them a bit more and it's opens up why these charities are so important because they try to do that and say this is who we are, This is why we support these people.