Ukrainian couple Oksana and Pavlo were heading back to their flat in Aberdeen with their two young children after we met one Saturday morning in December, excited to put up their Christmas tree.
Their friends, Kateryna and Oleksandr, were waking up in a refugee centre in Norway, safe and sheltered but ultimately isolated, without any connection to that country and unable to speak the language.
All four have fled the war in Ukraine in search of a more secure existence, but while the Kolomiichuks have managed to start a new life in Aberdeen, husband and wife Oleksandr and Kateryna Polishchuk feel they are living in limbo.
The couple are keen to move to the UK for several reasons, in particular north-east Scotland where their childhood friends are, but have been told they face a lengthy wait for their case to be considered.
Unlike Oksana and Pavlo and their children, Kateryna and Oleksandr have yet to secure a sponsor. Such is life’s lottery.
Family made to feel welcome in Scotland
Oksana, 35, and Pavlo, 37, said their family have been made to feel very welcome in the Granite City, their sponsorship arranged by the Scottish Government.
Oksana is learning English at Nescol and Pavlo has secured work in the construction industry.
Their English is a lot better than my Ukrainian but we still needed the help of Google Translate for me to hear their story.
Steve Jobs would have been proud to see us as we overcame the language barrier with our Apple iPhones in front of us on the table at the Press and Journal offices at Marischal Square, the lights of the Christmas Market twinkling five floors below.
Children don’t need technology to communicate and so while my daughter played a game of Jenga with their sons, Oksana and Pavlo told me how leaving Ukraine was an easy decision, such was their fear for their family.
“We’ve been here one year,” said Oksana, “before that were in a hotel in Dyce, now we are in a flat in Tillydrone.
“They are very nice people there. Everyone has been so nice.”
Nowhere is safe in Ukraine
“In Ukraine I was a nurse, in ophthalmology. We are from a small city in western Ukraine. It’s calmer in the west but still, there is no security.
“We left Ukraine in September 2022. We got on a bus to Poland. There is no safe place in Ukraine. We were worried for our kids.
“We had a bunker in the basement. Every day when there was an alarm we went down to the basement and spent the night there.
“It was very scary and so we didn’t hesitate to go.”
Oksana showed me a poignant photograph of her two little boys wrapped up in blankets in a makeshift bed in a tiny space in the bunker.
I nodded in understanding, trying to convey that if this had been my family, I too wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving.
Although Pavlo and Oksana have left the warzone behind them, their anxiety clearly lingers and they did not want to be photographed.
Bunker in the basement
When I asked if I could instead use the picture of the boys in the bunker as it paints such a compelling picture of their ordeal, Oksana put her hand to her heart and her chin to her chest and shook her head.
I didn’t catch every word, but the message was clear, it would be more than she could bear, having gone to such extraordinary lengths to protect them.
We switched to talking about their other family and their friends, Oleksandr and Kateryna, who they have known for years.
Oksana’s parents remain in Ukraine and she shows me another precious photograph of her boys with their grandparents.
She is visibly emotional when talking about leaving her parents behind.
Family connection to Aberdeen
Pavlo’s own parents have passed away. The couple already had a family connection to Aberdeen as Pavlo’s brother was already here before the family left Ukraine.
He and Kateryna were in the same class at school and they were all neighbours.
“They need a family sponsor,” said Oksana. “They plan to come to work, not to live at someone else’s expense.”
Pavlo added: “Kateryna is also our neighbour and we have known her since childhood.
“Kateryna and Oleksandr are a very good family and we really wanted them to come here too because we are very, very good here.
“I’m sorry that we can’t really express our emotions because we don’t speak English very well but we want to thank all the people in Scotland very much for receiving us very well.
“We didn’t feel like strangers here. The people are very polite and kind and we feel at home.
“Thank you very much to all of you, and when I learn English I will be able to convey my emotions, but I can’t convey it.
“As a family we are very, very grateful to you, every Scotsman and woman.
“We have been given a lot here and looked after like children and we have been given the opportunity to realise (our goals) here and we want to become part of the people in Scotland.
“Kateryna and Oleksandr also want to work and realise themselves and we just like it here so much that we would like them to be here with us too because they are our friends.”
‘Norway doesn’t need us’
Kateryna, 33, and Oleksandr, 30, are keen to start work, which has not been possible in Norway.
They don’t speak the language, although they do speak English, and Norway doesn’t seem to need their skills, as Kateryna explained.
Taking matters into their own hands in their efforts to find a sponsor, the couple have posted messages on several community Facebook chats, but only one replied with several kind messages of support – Stonehaven chat in Aberdeenshire.
Kateryna stressed their potential move is about wanting to work and speaking the language, and said their friends in Aberdeen are doing all they can to help.
Kateryna said: “I am a dentist and my husband Oleksandr is a professional military officer, an officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“We met during the war in Luhansk region. We both served in different units of the same military unit. I was a military medic, and my husband was a signalman.
“When we were discharged from military service, we moved to the western part of Ukraine, rented an apartment in a small town of Lutsk, and studied new professions for us as a target analyst and graphic designer in order to work online.
“We fell in love and decided to finish our service in the army when the contract ended in 2020.
“But after two years, a full-scale war began and my husband had to join the army again to protect our borders.
“My husband resigned of his own accord in August of this year and we immediately left Ukraine because we did not feel safe there.
Living in a refugee centre
“We were looking for a safe country to live in and decided to come to Norway. In Norway, we were settled in a centre for refugees and we are here at the moment.
“We started learning the Norwegian language, but it turned out to be very difficult and not understandable.
“We learned that there is such a sponsorship programme in Great Britain, that is, a native inhabitant can take in refugees and provide them with housing, then the state encourages them with a monetary payment.
“My classmate’s family lives in Aberdeen, and they moved there a year ago. I asked them to tell me how to act correctly and how to write a good post about my family and my search for a sponsor in the UK.
“We decided to write our announcement on the search for a sponsor in all the Facebook groups we found – and many people from Stonehaven liked my post.
“In Scotland, we plan to go straight to work. And I plan to confirm my dental diploma and work as a dentist.
“At the moment we are in a refugee camp in Norway at a former Nato base in the field, the village of Lista.
“We live with the same refugees as us and from all countries of the world. We are paid for food and we buy our own food and cook our own food,” said Kateryna.
“My husband is a military man and he legally left the service. And we immediately left Ukraine. We were staying with our friends in Poland.
“And then we decided to go to Norway, because we watched a lot of videos about refugees in Norway. We have no relatives or friends in Norway.
‘It’s difficult to sit and wait’
“We don’t feel comfortable in Norway. My husband went through many police interviews where he was asked about his service and his duties in the army.
“We were told that we would have to wait a long time for our cases to be considered.
“It is very difficult for us to sit and wait, it is difficult not to know any information. And I think we’re wasting a lot of time.
“We would really like to work and integrate into Norwegian society, learn the language and communicate with the local population, maybe learn a new profession.
“But we realised that this country does not need us, so we are looking for a new home,” said Kateryna.
Back in Aberdeen, it was time to wish Pavlo and Oksana and their children the very best of luck and show them back to street level.
Their youngest took delight in pressing the buttons in the lift and I was reminded that it’s the simple things we take for granted that truly bring us joy.
With wishes for a happy and peaceful festive season exchanged, the young family stepped out into the Christmas Market, the twinkling lights a welcoming sight in their new hometown.
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