|
Welcome to your dedicated newsletter for Homes for Ukraine Hosts in East Sussex.
The June edition of our newsletter is the first of the British summertime. And while the weather has not been summer-like, it's worth noting the school summer holidays will begin soon.
If you're wondering what to do this summer, we’ve information on childcare options and events, including our usual ‘what’s on’ round-up of activities happening across the county.
The other universal concern for our guests is housing. We’ve included a link to a booklet that gives clear advice for people in a range of housing situations and circumstances.
Unfortunately, we’ve a warning for guests this month. Fake messages have been sent to guests via some social media channels. The messages regard the Ukrainian Permission Extension or e-visa applications.
This month we meet Miranda Innes in our on-going series of articles speaking to hosts and guests. Miranda is a ‘serial’ host who has hosted three separate sets of guests. She gives us her warm and amusing reflections on the challenges of hosting, as well as the clearly strong relationships that resulted from the process.
Miranda is a professional writer who has published four books: Spaghetti Romance, Getting to Manana, Cinnamon City, Miss Winthorp and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Guests on Homes for Ukraine visas are being targeted with fraudulent messages on social media platforms.
The messages ask the visa holder to provide personal data to a third party who claim to act for the Home Office.
Some messages claim to need updates to personal details for the move onto the Ukrainian Permission Extension (UPE) scheme.
These message are mostly on the Telegram social media app, but have been sent to other platforms.
The Home Office said it has not issued any guidance about future applications for the UPE. Anybody asked to update their details through any social media channel should ignore the message. Further information about the UPE scheme can be found on the government website.
UPE will only be open to application when a guest’s original visa is three months from ending. The council's Homes for Ukraine team are contacting the first guests this applies to.
Please find further information regarding e-visas on the government website.
|
One of the major challenges (if not the major challenge) that our Ukrainian guests in East Sussex must deal with is housing.
Housing raises questions and potential difficulties for our Ukrainian guests. That can happen whether guests are hosted, in temporary accommodation or if they are living independently in the private rental sector.
A booklet called ‘Key Advice: Housing advice, information and guidance’ gives clear advice for people in a range of housing situations. It has been produced by ESTAR (Employability for Supported and Temporary Accommodation and Refugees).
The central government’s website about childcare is the best place to start to find out if you’re eligible for any financial help with childcare.
You can also find out if you’re eligible to receive the 30 hours of free childcare (for children under 4 years old). Check here, to see if you're eligible for free childcare if you're working.
Further information on childcare can be found here.
Things to do in East Sussex
There are a range of exciting musical events, summer fairs and cultural activities in East Sussex this month. Click on a town or district below to find out what's happening near you:
Although outside of East Sussex, The Grohotsky – Concert Help to Ukraine event is happening at All Saints Church in Brighton on June 22. The concert starts at 7.30pm (doors open at 6.30pm). Tickets cost from £10.
The Family Grapevine magazine, is full of information about family based activities across the region as well as interesting features about Sussex life.
Being a host: my story so far...
I was delighted when our Ukrainian neighbour Olesia, suggested offering a home to a trio of refugees, friends of hers, writes Miranda Innes (right). Dan and me and Freddie the Collie have a great, crumbling Victorian family house and we felt guilty about all that unoccupied space.
We were apprehensive too about inviting people into our home. We are antisocial hermits. Not good at communal meals. Not tidy. A polite description of the house is ‘Bohemian’. From the previous owners we inherited cobweb-attracting woodchip walls and Artex ceilings. And fitted carpets, which shocked all of our six Ukrainians guests who would ask: ‘why fitted carpets?’. It would not be their first culture shock.
Homing our guests involved a Fire and Safety inspection. This involved linked fire alarms (surprisingly pricey), fire doors, and the removal of the fridge/freezer we had put upstairs for our guests. And on no account were we to continue the dangerous practice of charging computers or phones overnight. Who knew?
Welcoming our guests
On 11 August 2022 I drove, with nervousness, down to Warrior Square Station to pick up Inna, her son Sasha and her niece Anastasia. They were shattered physically and mentally and surrounded by a 120kg barricade of essential worldly goods - everything they would need for who could guess how long? They had to leave the things that really mattered - home, friends, husband, comforting familiars.
Inna is tall, statuesque, formidable. Within seconds she found employment interviewing immigrant job-seekers. She is trilingual; her English is faultless - a huge vocabulary, posh or colloquial, nuance and irony. She told us off us for ‘the dust of ages’, promising that mental clarity would follow having the house professionally cleaned. We got the cleaners but not the clarity.
I enjoy Inna’s company immensely. She found an excellent local school for Sasha who has inherited his mother’s astonishing intelligence. Anastasia cooked proper food, Inna favoured takeaways. The three of them stayed for six months before Inna and Sasha moved to a flat overlooking the sea in St Leonards. Anastasia left the UK to try life in Georgia.
New guests
In May 2023 Olga and Tatiana, her mother, moved in. Olga is a 35-year-old Ukrainian accountant. She would prepare their unvaried meals of boiled potatoes and Frankfurters and then plod gloomily to the job centre. Tatiana was desperate to go home to Kyiv and persuaded her daughter to escape with her.
Our most recent guest, Zinoviy, arrived on 12 February. It was shortly after his 60th birthday freed him from military duty. He could not be more friendly. He even vacuums the pesky stair carpet.
We take our cue from our guests. Inna and Sasha became part of the family, Tatiana and Olga preferred their own company, and Zinoviy is a journalist with political ambitions who spends his evenings with his computer.
Jobs round-up
The latest jobs for guests interested in a new career?
Is your guest looking for a new job? We've the latest selection of roles and learning and training opportunities to help your guest get the job they want.
Find out more about the latest available roles in:
Useful contacts
Homes for Ukraine contact centre. If you need advice, call 01273 337010 (pick Option 1 to speak to someone in English, Option 2 to speak to someone in Ukrainian) or email ukraine@eastsussex.gov.uk.
Welfare checks
It's really important to us that all Ukrainian guests are safe and well. As we continue to carry out welfare visits for all guests who have been living with their hosts for six months or more.
The purpose of the welfare visit is to check guests are safe and well, confirm your guests are still living at your property and to provide advice, guidance and information to you and your guest(s). It also provides you the opportunity to express any concerns or difficulties you might be having. We would appreciate the cooperation of guests and hosts when welfare visits are arranged with you.
If you found this a useful guide to hosting our Ukrainian guests, then why not share it with a friend so they can sign up to our monthly newsletter and stay informed of all the latest Homes for Ukraine news. You can read previous newsletters at our host newsletter archive.
|
