Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Refugees move into manse
A BROUGHTY Ferry manse has been refurbished to house a family of Ukrainian refugees.
The Krasnopolska family were among the first wave of citizens to arrive in the UK as war broke out in their country.
They initially stayed with relatives in Broughty Ferry under the Ukranian Family Scheme, but it became difficult to accommodate them.
A group of churchgoers have grouped together to refurbish an old clergy house to offer them a more spacious home.
The Reverend Dr Nathan McConnell of Downfield Mains Church, who has a PhD in migration, asylum seekers and refugees, led the project.
He told the Tele that differences in the level of support offered to Ukrainians arriving through the family scheme made him realise they would need further help.
He said: “One of the key difficulties was finding housing for them.
“In conjunction with the Church of Scotland, we’ve opened up a vacant manse and refurbished it in Dundee.
“We started about two or three weeks ago.”
The Krasnopolskas – a mum and three children aged 17, 15 and 12 – moved in with their cousins last month, with hopes that the children’s dad will be able to join them soon.
Dr McConnell said: “Because there are five of them, they realised it wasn’t going to be tenable for the family that they were staying with.
“They just didn’t have the space.
“We went into a pretty derelict manse that had been vacant for about three years and then a group of churches started working together to bring it up to speed.
“The Ukrainian family, who had been technically made homeless, will be able to get into the manse next week.”