A Ukranian refugee living in Shropshire tells us about her life with her son and the uncertainty hanging over her in regards to her visa allowing her to stay here.
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00:00So Hannah, how are you? Thank you, I'm fine. Good stuff. So you came to England from Ukraine?
00:08Yes, I live two and a half years now in the UK with my teenager son.
00:16Okay, how old's your lad? He is 15. Yeah, is he settled in okay over here?
00:23Yeah, it's not too bad.
00:26And have your time always been in Market Drayton where we are here now?
00:32Is that the whole two and a half years?
00:34No, when we arrived to the UK we lived 11 months with my sponsor family, Julia and Simon.
00:41Where was that then?
00:43It's Longford in a little countryside by Market Drayton.
00:49And after that we moved to our house. It's a rented house.
00:56So how are you feeling being here two and a half years now?
01:01Are you settling in here? Are you longing to be back home?
01:05How do you feel about it? How have you been settling in?
01:09We are not settling in because we don't know what will happen to us when our visa finishes.
01:18So we just wait what happens.
01:22So you've got that kind of hanging over you all the time then really, that insecurity, that not knowing what's going to happen.
01:29That must be quite stressful really.
01:32Yeah, it's a difficult question because my son now finished school this year at GCSE and after that he wants to go to Shrewsbury College.
01:42And we've got a document just for the next maybe two years.
01:48If we have a visa for the next 18 months, you know, it's a difficult question.
01:55So when will you know if that can be extended? Will it go right up to the last minute are you expecting before you'll know?
02:05I don't know.
02:08Not sure, yeah. That's a lot to have hanging over you.
02:11Yeah, it's a lot of questions.
02:13Yeah, definitely. So you've still got family and friends in Ukraine?
02:17Yeah, I've got my two old aunties, my brother and my nephew.
02:25So my brother and my nephew now are like soldiers in the war.
02:29Are they?
02:30Yeah.
02:31Wow, okay. So do you manage to speak to them much?
02:35Not much, but sometimes. I don't know where they are, but I don't know. It's safe now. It's not safe, but he's still alive.
02:46Yeah, yeah, yeah. So have you got friends over here? Is there Ukrainian friends you've got over here as well?
02:56I found new friends here. Lots of friends from Ukraine, different areas. Lots of English friends now.
03:04Yeah.
03:05So it's a long time, two and a half years.
03:08Yes, it is. Definitely. Yeah, yeah. And for your lad at that age, you know, being 15 now, it's a pivotal age, isn't it?
03:15You know what I mean? Very formative years, they say, you know.
03:18Yeah, it's a very important year for him.
03:23But he's happy here. He likes, he found new friends as well. He likes Grove School. And after that he dreamed about Shrewsbury College.
03:34Yeah. What does he want to go on and do at college?
03:37He would like accounting. So he chose maths, IT and German language.
03:45Okay, he's got a good head on him then.
03:47He's a clever boy.
03:50What was your trade in Ukraine then? You weren't an accountant, were you? What was your job in Ukraine?
03:56No, I was senior editor in radio news.
03:59Ah, okay. Hence how you ended up being involved in radio over here for a period, for a little while.
04:06Yeah, it was a good idea. I spoke with one man from Market Aid and he has a little radio station online.
04:16We tried, but it was not very popular because it's an English radio station, you know, and just one hour in a week.
04:25And it was not a good idea, so we closed it.
04:28Yeah, yeah. You had a go.
04:30Yeah.
04:31And what you, Little Bird tells me you're involved in a kitchen now?
04:35Yeah, I'm, I forgot who I am. Catering.
04:39Oh, catering, yeah, yeah.
04:41I'm catering assistant now in Christian Conference Hall.
04:45Oh, wow, okay.
04:46Lonely Hall.
04:47Yeah, you enjoy that, yeah?
04:48Yeah, it's a nice team, nice place, very kind people, so I enjoy it.
04:53Oh, that's good. And a great way to meet more people, isn't it really? Make more friends, you know.
04:58Of course. We meet every day lots of people around the world, everywhere.
05:04From America, Japan, Chinese, South Africa, so it's very nice.
05:10So how are you left feeling at the minute with what's going on in the world and, you know, we've got the new president in America.
05:16Are you feeling, how do you feel about the situation at the moment with Ukraine?
05:23I'm feeling very upset because I think Ukraine now it's like a toy for America and Russia.
05:33Yeah.
05:34Yeah.
05:35I'm very upset because no rules, just what decided Trump and Putin and...
05:42Yeah, yeah.
05:43Yeah, it's difficult.
05:45So when you first came here as a refugee, were you thinking this will be a number of months and then I'll be back home?
05:53Or were you, when you came here, were you thinking I could well be here for a long, long time?
05:58When war is just started, we think just a few weeks and it's finished.
06:04But after a few months we realise that it's not finished for years and years.
06:09Yeah.
06:10And we choose to move to UK.
06:13Yeah, yeah.
06:14So we try to build our just normal life for my son.
06:17Yeah, yeah.
06:19So what would, if we had a magic wand, which we haven't, and we could make the war finish tomorrow, where would that leave you then?
06:28Are you starting to form new links and a new life here?
06:31Would you like to stay here or are you longing to be back home in Ukraine?
06:37You know, I'm happy everywhere.
06:40But if my son decides to stay here, if it's more important for him and if he, to see more opportunities for him here, I stay for years here with him.
06:55Yeah, yeah.
06:56After that maybe I'll be back to Ukraine.
06:58The words of a loving mother.
07:00Yeah, yeah.
07:02Well, thank you for speaking to us and we wish you all the best with you and your lad.