Anastasia is a 19 year old refugee from Ukraine who came to stay with me and my mum on the 4 May.

Although we had agreed that we would host a refugee, we did not have much notice as she came to us in an emergency. I only found out at the end of my last lesson on the day she came.

 

She had lived in Kyiv with her fiancé (who has to stay in Ukraine), and came to England after escaping through Poland, then Germany and Italy. When she arrived she didn't speak any English but she is learning extremely fast. She has been to Felsted to watch both the Dance and LAMDA presentations which she enjoyed very much. Anastasia has been meeting lots of new people and enjoying her time with us. We took her to London this weekend and she was particularly pleased to see a ‘double decker’ bus, and a show at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park. We also had a very fun night watching the Eurovision Song Contest with her recently!

I have learnt a few Ukrainian words such as привіт (hello) and we have also enjoyed some of her cooking, including, Borscht and also potato pancakes (Deruni).

I am not sure how long she will stay with us but she knows she can stay as long as she needs to. It has been a really amazing experience for us and we are glad to give her a safe place and some happy times in England.