This is Kristina. She is from Mariupol. She is one of 28 children who came to the UK for 10 days from Ukraine on a rehabilitation camp accompanied by their care team, doctor and psychologist. She told me that the rehabilitation camp was such a positive experience for her.

Kristina’s father was killed in the siege of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol and her mother was captured by the Russians when they entered Azovstal and she was sent to a Russian prison for 7 months.

Kristina got up on the stage of Ballinger War Memorial Hall in Buckinghamshire and read us her poem about Mariupol that she had written and wanted to share with us. I can not begin to describe how moved we felt by her courage.

It costs £727 per child for all the costs of a rehabilitation camp. We are organising another camp for 35 children like Kristina. If you know of anyone who might be willing to make a donation, please do forward this message to them.

If you want to get a better understanding of what some of the children like Kristina have been through, I would recommend watching a documentary film, called ‘20 days in Mariupol’, available on Amazon Prime, You Tube and Apple TV. There is also a good article on Avoststal that you can read, the link is below.

Article on Azovstal: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/24/world/europe/ukraine-war-mariupol-azovstal.html

About the first UK camp:

https://youtu.be/g6OQS4RANWU?si=VSkm2Wgy7R3f07La