This family of three generations - from Katerina to seven-year-old Tamuna - arrived in Lille on Monday to a warm welcome from our colleagues Nik and Veronica. Due to the difficult conditions, delays on the border and sickness it took them 16 days to travel from Kiev. But they managed it, and were even able to squeeze in their dog, Lars, and hamster, Mandarine. The process to register them as refugees is underway but slow, and we are urgently fundraising for their living expenses, and much-needed French lessons! Please support!

Iryna has left family, her home, and her career in TV behind, but the creeping violence left her no choice. “You can't live in a bomb shelter. You can't sleep.” Iryna says. "It was horrible having to leave my partner behind, but my priority had to be making sure the girls were safe and have a future. We couldn’t abandon our dog and cat either, so we brought them too.” We’ll post more on their story here. Please support our fundraising drive to raise cash to help this family pay for urgent necessities as they start new lives in France.

Iryna and her daughters are now living safely in France, after a perilous journey. She said “It was hard to leave but when we saw rockets going overhead we realised it was too dangerous to stay. Driving across Ukraine was really hard and we tried to avoid the main roads as much as possible. Then at the border, it took us 40 hours to get across. It was the worst two days of my life. I couldn’t sleep for more than a few minutes at a time because we’d have lost our place in the queue. Altogether, it took us 5 days to get to Poland.”