Greenock woman stepped in to support struggling refugees
A KIND Greenock woman who helped a refugee family as they were left living in limbo says they have been let down by a sponsorship scheme.
Philomena Donnachie, 61, connected online with Ukrainian mum Svetlana Zinchenko, 34, when she came to the UK with her family fleeing the war in her homeland.
Svetlana planned to move to Inverclyde after her husband secured sponsorship to come here through a government-run scheme - but they ended up stuck in a motorway hotel near Stirling due to red-tape.
Philomena says that as soon as she heard the young Ukrainian mother’s story, she stepped in.
After the family were able to come to Inverclyde, she ended up going with Svetlana to meetings with agencies about her application to settle here, provided food and other essentials for her family and took them on a day out.
But the family ended up having to relocate to England due to problems with their sponsorship arrangement.
She said: “I first saw Svetlana reaching out for help on a community page on Facebook and I decided to message her.
“From the word go I just wanted to help her.
“I found out she was still in Stirling and nobody was helping her and it just seemed everybody was washing their hands of responsibility. To leave a vulnerable family in that position was just so unfair.”
Svetlana and her young son had been originally due to locate to Lincolnshire in England until her husband secured a sponsor in Inverclyde.
But because the family remained the responsibility of Lincolnshire Council while paperwork in Inverclyde was processed, they were initially not moved to Inverclyde until after their struggles were highlighted in the Telegraph.
Svetlana, her husband and son were eventually placed in the Gin House Hotel in Greenock, which enabled Philomena to visit them regularly. Philomena said: “The hotel has been fantastic.
“Svetlana said that as soon as she arrived there she was much better and they helped her with washing and provided more food.
“But things continued with their sponsor here never providing all the information needed to progress her application.
“I was with her for meetings and would speak to her after she heard from council workers and it was so much back and forth, delaying them from moving into their own accommodation.
“I just wanted to help her and find her settled.”
After a month waiting in Inverclyde, the family found a new sponsor in Manchester and have since relocated to England.
Philomena says their experience shows that the Homes for Ukraine scheme is not working as it should.
She added: “I’m just so disappointed in the scheme, it obviously has some loopholes.
“It shouldn’t have happened to these people and it shouldn’t happen to anyone.
“I hope Svetlana now gets settled and this type of thing doesn’t happen to any other family, refugee, asylum seeker or anyone – no matter where they are from.
“I think that if we can we should always be helping others. “For me, it runs in the family. “My sister Louise is a retired teacher and has raised thousands of pounds for MS Scotland, my other sister was a nurse and health visitor, and I now help with Covid injections.
“Reaching out to Svetlana, I made a new friend.
“I’ll definitely be going to Manchester to see her and I hope that maybe she’ll come back here for a visit too.”
Svetlana told the Tele: “I want to say a big thank you to Philomena - she was a superhero to us.
“She was the first to come to our rescue and brought us food to the hotel but also many other things for a comfortable life.
“She even gave us an excursion in Greenock and we are so grateful to her.”