Refugees struggling to find home
They fled war-torn Ukraine with nothing but the clothes they were wearing – now a mother and her two children are desperate to find a new home in New Zealand, to settle down.
Olesia Solovei, and Mykola, 11, and Marria, 8, arrived in Timaru on April 30, after leaving their home in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, where her husband Volodimir remains.
The family joined millions of Ukrainians who have fled their homeland since Russian forces invaded in February under the guise of conducting a special operation.
Since then they have made a fresh start in the region – the children are happy at their school, and enjoying the holidays with family members, and Solovei has picked up work.
However, she said finding a place to call home in the tight Timaru housing market was proving unsuccessful after viewing ‘‘many’’ properties in the town to rent – including one where she had to step over piles of rubbish in the house.
She said she now had her hopes pinned on a property she recently viewed which was ‘‘clean and light’’.
‘‘I am waiting to hear back,’’ she said.
The family have been living at a Timaru motel since their arrival, and while they were grateful for the accommodation, Solovei said it was time to move into a home where they could ‘‘feel more settled’’.
‘‘My parents [who live in Timaru] will be the guarantor [for the property]. I am able to pay for it,’’ she said.
She has also started working as a housekeeper at the motel where she is living and was grateful for the work.
She liked to finish her working day with a walk along Caroline Bay.
Solovei and her children speak to Volodimir most days, and she said it felt sad they were not together.
‘‘We really miss him but he is okay.
‘‘We are very much looking forward to the end of the war so that he can come to us.’’
Solovei’s visa allows her, and her children, two years in New Zealand.
She said the family may consider staying longer.
The community has rallied for the family after arriving here, with a public outpouring of support in the way of donations of food, money and vouchers. All three had also received bikes from a South Canterbury business.
She thanked the community for its support.
‘‘These people are lovely.
‘‘I like Timaru. Thank you very much to all the people for their help.’’
A Givelittle page was also set up by Ray Perry, who owns the motel where the family is staying.
Perry said it had been ‘‘absolutely no trouble’’ having the family stay, but the rooms were ‘‘not ideal long term’’.
‘‘They’re looking for something more long-term and I’ve given them great references,’’ Perry said.
He said the Soloveis had been made to feel ‘‘very welcome’’ with many visiting the motel to drop off items for the family.
‘‘A lot of those items are things we take for granted.
‘‘They are such good people and we will miss them when they are gone.’’
He said Solovei was already proving a star in her job at the motel.
‘‘We are very much looking forward to the end of the war so that [my husband] can come to us.’’
Olesia Solovei