Selwyn is pleased to welcome Dasha Zhurat to a post in our tutorial office. Mrs Zhurat is a refugee from Ukraine, and she tells her story in her own words.
“My name’s Dasha. I’m from Berdyansk, south-eastern part of Ukraine. It has been occupied since 27th February. In the beginning of March in the cold weather we lost heating. As Russians were jamming communication channels, some days we had no mobile connection and no internet. No schools, no work. Supermarket shelves were empty. Warning alarms sounded every day and night, so we had to seek protection in a bomb shelter or to hide in our house behind two walls. At the same time it was too dangerous to leave Berdyansk as there were fierce battles in the region. At last, we left on 16th March when they opened a green corridor for Mariupol. The first 200 km were the hardest part of the trip: 17 Russian checkpoints, passing the front line in a queue of hundreds of cars through the mined fields.
“My sister lives in Cambridge and that’s why we decided to get through 4000 km by car to come here. We had to wait for a month for the visas in Romania and on 25th April we entered the UK. Thanks to the Lord, my family is in the safe place and we are grateful to the English people who make us feel welcome here.”
To read more about how Cambridge is supporting Ukrainian refugees, click here: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/cambridge-university-help-for-Ukraine
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