REFUGEES

February 2022

THE pandemic was incredibly hard for everyone in Barnsley - but for those who came to foreign land to seek refuge, it’s unimaginable to comprehend their pain.

Barnsley took in a great number of refugees during the pandemic - both from Ukraine and Afghanistan. Those people who were fleeing war - either due to the Taliban or Russian invasions - were housed in Barnsley.

The borough’s ever-present community did what they do best and welcomed them with open arms.

Members of a Barnsley group set up to help refugees fleeing war-torn countries confirmed they were helping Afghan families who have escaped the Taliban in September 2021. The award-winning Penistone Refugee Group looked after a number of arrivals from Kabul.

Vice-chairman David Greenhough, who is also a councillor for the Penistone West ward, said the refugees are ‘incredibly thankful’ to be in a place of safety in the borough.

“The first family members to arrive under the resettlement scheme are now here,” he said. “These are people who worked alongside British armed forces in Afghanistan.

“A member of the family worked hand-in-hand with the military, so it was simply too dangerous for them to stay as they would have been executed.

“Barnsley Council asked us to help these families so we will be right in the middle of this.

“The family comprises parents with young children and they are very glad to be here, but another family member is still out there in Kabul.

“It is hard to believe what has happened - Afghanistan was becoming a much more open place but it faces a dark future now.”

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine took place in 2022 no one could have imagined the sheer horror their national would face.

Dozens of families arrived in Barnsley and we spoke to one the refugees about her heartbreaking story.

A Ukrainian teenager who fled her war-torn country says she’s found her second mum after she moved to Barnsley in 2022. Karina Tarasenko is just 20 years old – but she’s already faced enough hardship to last a lifetime.

Her home nation was invaded by Vladimir Putin’s Russia in February, leaving thousands of people without a place to live. Barnsley, who are twinned with Ukrainian town Gorlovka, has opened its heart to refugees - with dozens coming to the town through the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Karina, who has been forced to leave her boyfriend and other family members back in her home town, moved to England with her mum and eight-year-old sister Sofia – but they’ve been left in a Huddersfield hostel after their sponsors were unable to continue to look after them.

She said: “I live in Millhouse Green now.

“I’m really glad that I have my sponsor, she is amazing and like a second mum for me.

“My sponsor, Emma Jane Phillips, and her mum care about me.

“I found her on the site eu4ua – it was a long list of all sponsors.

“I have a visa for three years and because of the situation in Ukraine I’ll stay here as long as it is possible – it’s a lovely place.

“I have found some friends, but sometimes I feel lonely.

“My mum also lives in Huddersfield with my younger sister Sofia but they are staying in a hotel and looking for a new sponsor, because their sponsor can’t host them anymore.”

Karina, who is originally from Borzna in the Chernigiv region but moved to Kyiv three years ago with her boyfriend, spoke in depth about the horrific situation in Ukraine.

“I woke up at 5am because of a loud sound – my first my thought was about how loud it was, but me and my boyfriend just continued to sleep as we didn’t know that it was war,” she added. “An hour later and my dad call me and said the war has started – I thought that it was a joke, but then I looked out the window and saw a big line, people staying and waiting for cash because we can’t use debit cards when it’s war.

“The second day my boyfriend decided to go back to his home town but because it was dangerous – there was bombing – I went to my dad’s work.

“All of the days I could hear bombing – it was scary, I was alone with people I didn’t know.”

Karina says for a number of weeks she was only able to sleep for a few hours each night – and she constantly worries for her boyfriend and dad who are still in the war-torn country.

“Some nights we would hide in the basement but it was cold and scary,” Karina added.

“I remember, when me and my new friend went to store to buy a water and bread – we were lucky because they sell bread once or twice a week – and we heard helicopters and an air alarm, so we ran to the basement like crazy dogs.”

After moving between give villages and towns in Ukraine, Karina has ended up in Millhouse Green – and she’s even working at Cubley Hall in Penistone.

She added: “I can speak English so it’s not a big problem but sometimes I can’t get the Barnsley accent.

“I like skating on ice but there’s nowhere to do that here so I miss it.

“I have a lot of friends in Ukraine, but I don’t really have many here.”

Karina’s story will resonate with so many across the town. Her hard-working grit is everything that Barnsley is about and she’s managed to make sure she can keep going as best as she can. The pandemic undoubtedly made it harder for refugees like Karina - but both her and Barnsley’s spirit shone through and residents opened their hearts for everyone in her situation.

That’s why people like Ryk Matysiak and his band of volunteers have been so influential during the pandemic. Depsite the last three years leaving residents with less money in their pockets, it didn’t stop them inundating a local businessman with donations to send to wartorn Ukraine.

Henryk Matysiak, of Hunter’s Avenue in Pogmoor, took it upon himself to use his family connections to set up the collection. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has seen natives flee to nearby Poland, Henryk decided he wanted to do something to help the refugees who sought asylum.

“It all started out with the idea to take a van to Poland with some donations,” he said.

“I’ve got connections in Poland and I phoned them up and they said they’ll help distribute the items.

“Everyone and their mum has donated and we ended up going from one van to nine articulated lorries.

“We started this in March 2022 and I’ve been really humbled by it. “There’s been people donating and then around 200 volunteers helping out.”

Thousands of donations flooded in and a number of lorries were sent to Poland thanks to the generosity of the people in Barnsley.

Barnsley Museum’s ESOL group Feels Like Home, for people new to Barnsley went above and beyond to support people during the Pandemic.

Many refugees and asylum seekers had a difficult time in isolation, not having the same support networks as established families, often with very limited finances. Due to language barriers some did not even understanding public health messages at the time. Many group members didn’t have televisions or internet, so the isolation was magnified, and poor mental health was a big issue.

The Feels Like home project helped by providing IT equipment and mobile phone data to stay connected in several weekly virtual meetings. The group sourced second hand bicycles so members could get outside. As the Pandemic progressed, some parts of Barnsley’s migrant communities were untrusting of the vaccine, thus the group mobilised and provided translation services and encouraged vaccinations.