We talk to Ukrainian refugee and newest ICB recruit Kateryna Valian and her host, ICB Bookkeeper Jane Thornthwaite MICB PM.Dip on their experiences of the Ukrainian Settlement Scheme and how Kateryna is settling into life in the UK.
🌸 On 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine and began to bombard the country’s capital, Kyiv. Kateryna, who is originally from the Donetsk region said “on that day, all Ukrainians lost their plans for the future.” She had been living in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv with her husband when the invasion happened and described hearing explosions a short distance away and having to sleep in the basement to shelter from potential bombings. Kateryna then threw herself into supporting her community, volunteering to pick up elderly people’s prescriptions and organising food deliveries for vulnerable people and the military.
🌸 Kateryna says that she was “proud” of the efforts that she and her compatriots were making to support each other, but this optimism all changed when a bomb detonated just 30 metres away from her apartment building, destroying a nursery school and countless homes. Her husband asked her to leave Ukraine to keep herself safe. It was then that she began looking to come to the UK.
🌸 Kateryna came across Elena Khorikova, the co-founder of ICFM Ukraine on Instagram. Elena put Kateryna in touch with Alina Siatkovskaia, ICB UK’s Member Engagement Executive to arrange a place to stay under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. That’s how she met her host, Jane Thornthwaite, an ICB bookkeeper living in the Lincolnshire countryside.
🌸 Jane decided to open her home after seeing the shocking news reports of the Ukrainian invasion on the daily news. Jane contacted us about finding a Ukrainian person looking to come to the UK and ICB matched her with Kateryna. Jane then set about filling in endless application forms, undergoing checks and preparing her home to receive Kateryna. Of this time, Jane said “it became my mission to provide whatever I could to make Kateryna feel comfortable, safe and secure in what must have been an incredibly scary situation.”
🌸 After a month of applications and approvals, Kateryna finally arrived in the UK on 7 May. Jane says their first meeting at the airport “was like meeting a long-lost friend.” Since then, they have been fast friends. After living on her own for several years, Jane said that living with Kateryna was “easier than expected” and her three cats have certainly taken to their new housemate! The pair have been renovating a doll’s house together and enjoy watching Formula One on the weekends. Most important, though is the emotional support that Jane offers to Kateryna during her time away from home. Both credit their “tea and hugs” sessions as a key emotional outlet at this difficult time.
🌸 Despite being away from her husband, Kateryna is trying to carry on and to build a life in the UK while she is here. According to Kateryna, her reception in the UK has been warm; “everyone has been kind and thoughtful towards me,” she says. She has used her strong background in finance to find a job at ICB as a Finance Assistant, saying that she previously couldn’t have imagined getting an offer of work. She even attended our 25th anniversary celebration at St James’ Palace earlier this summer.
🌸 Despite her plans being ‘destroyed’ by the conflict in Ukraine, Kateryna remains optimistic for the future and is looking forward to returning to her home country and her family when the war is over. Jane is also looking ahead and is excited to receive an invitation to Ukraine once Kateryna has headed home.
🌸 As with all ICB member stories, what comes through here is the extraordinary bond of friendship and support that exists across our community of members and our international networks. We are extremely proud of the kindness that ICB members like Jane show to their peers and other accountancy professionals and will continue to support them in whichever way we can. As part of this, we will proactively seek to offer opportunities for members to grow their networks, such as the Bookkeepers Summit, for which you can buy tickets now here. We of course wish Jane and Kateryna all the best for their time together, and for a quick return to Ukraine for Kateryna, even though she has already become a highly valued member of the ICB team!
🌸 This article was originally posted on the ICB Website on 30th August 2022. You can see it here: https://www.bookkeepers.org.uk/resources/news/member-blog/how-to-save-a-life/a/9767
