Daria – The importance of community
Daria Varchenko is just one of those to have sought safety here in the West Midlands, having left Ukraine in April 2022. She left behind her family, her husband and her life. “Maybe a month or two and then I’ll be back home.” she thought. A year later she has found a community that understands her in the UK. A community that shouldn’t need to be here, but that has come together to overcome the difficulties.
Written by: RMC’s Resettlement Team
This Friday, February 24th marks the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, how have those that came here coped, settled and lived with the enormous upheaval, uncertainty and fear for loved ones back home over those past 12 months?
Leaving everything behind
Daria, 29, lived in the Donetsk region of Ukraine until the war began. “It was getting more and more dangerous, and with the news about Mariupol coming through, we [Daria and her family] moved the Western Ukraine.” From here Daria decided to travel to the UK to live with relatives.
She arrived with nothing and had only once before met the people she was about to call her ‘British family’. At this time, she thought she would be back home in no time.
