Ukrainian family thought they were being deceived, as their Welsh greeting was just too much good believe

When deprived mother of six Lilia Onopa entered the created bungalow for her small school community in Chepstow she thought it was a scam. Cosy space was beautifully decorated with no stone upon stone.

“There are even scissors for manicure,” said Lilia WalesOnline, sitting on sofa in her new living room after taking her three youngest children to St Mary’s RC Elementary School, where she tells us they settle in well. Her new home less stone throw from school. AT fact, community worked tirelessly on ensure in house met standards required to house Lilia and her boys.

“There were even slippers for us all. It’s the little things,” she said. on. “When we came here for in first hot food at night for in children”. After what Lily went through in in space of terrible few months, small actions of kindness has gone a long way way. But on start she couldn’t believe it, and even now it’s hard for her to understand why. you can get more news like this and more story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.

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Her translator, Yulia Dubina, explained: “She kept asking, ‘Why? This is a fraud? I do not understand why people do so much for us.’ But I keep telling her that it’s different here. people here want to help each other, and they desperately help her. I tell her there shouldn’t be a why.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Lilia lost fouryear-old daughter Lisa in a fire on their home in Maryovka, in Centre of the country. Lily was already lost 13-year-old daughter Vladochka. So when the Russian troops approached, she said that despite the hostility she could face she felt she had to risk flight from the country.

She is took on Facebook for tracking down in creators of refugee bungalow in Chepstow after seeing stories of their efforts online. And this how she is met organizers of in project and governors of school, Phil Cotterell and Frances Tyndall. As soon when she talked to Phil, she said that she knew she had to try to get to Chepstow.

“We knew it how the journey would be dangerous,” she said. “Russian aggressors bombed all routes because they knew people tried escape. We planned to go through Odessa, but the route there was so broken that it was too much. We then planned to go through Lviv, but then it was aimed.

“Many people approached us and offer transportation, but then say they don’t wanted because it was too dangerous. Many popped up up like mushrooms try to take as much as possible money as they could.

“In the end we got to Bucharest, writing Fila and Luisa (Pavia is another organizer) every 20 minutes to tell them we are safe. Explosions in Ukraine went off around us. My kids are so scared that when we went to the band’s concert this week and there were fireworks, they ran away and started to panic that this was happening. again”.

Through the tears of gratitude and sadness Lily explained how life wasn’t always like this way for she and she family. Before the war we lived peacefully in our village. people of Ukraine is peaceful people and we lived well among Russians and Armenians people too much.

“I speak Russian fluently and have never felt problems there still. We were building our life, we had a beautiful garden, my son went to dentistry school. we searched forward. Now I’m talking to my friends there and they fight in Mariupol. People in [Russian] occupied territories do not have access to clean water, food or medicines.

“Just 20 km from my village, a war is raging. Boy in my village, just 23, was buried this week due to fighting with Russian troops. They are afraid every day that Russia will declare war on neighboring countries supporting Ukraine too.

team in Chepstow balanced the effort by trying to get Lily to the UK. with time to do up bungalow led by Phil and Francis who spent hours since then almost every day. On Friday, Lilia and her boys walked through the school gates, cheering on from school students who guarded of an honor to officially welcome them.

School principal Rosie Cerqua said that children was like little celebrities” since their arrival.

After the official presentation with the keys to her new homeLily turned to community what brought her there. “I was scared, but not so much for my life but for life of my children,” she said. “I’m so, so grateful to every person who It has made all this is possible for bringing us from our home safely reach Chepstow. We had problems with our visas that have been resolved and we are so grateful that we can now feel safe again.

“When I first saw the school my children went to and when I attended the Sabbath service in church all hit home and I felt so depressed. I have no words to describe how I feel and how I am grateful. I feel so overwhelmed thank you all of you finally feel safe again in it is beautiful community”.

Details of in familydifficulties with UK visa system and delays can be found here. Many people like Phil who sponsors complained that system too slow with unnecessary obstacles causing significant delays.

As of On May 17, 107,400 Ukrainian visas were issued out of 128,100 applications. Of the 6.3 million refugees left Ukraine more than three million in Poland, and Romania occupied in almost a million and Hungary more than 600,000. Germany said how of May 14 it took in more over 700,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Phil said getting Lily to Chepstow wasn’t easy.with many twists and turns along the way. He added: “But in this journey, so many saw incredible kindness and generosity.”