A UKRAINIAN refugee has praised the people of Bromsgrove for their ‘amazing’ response to her appeal for medical equipment for wounded soldiers in her homeland.
In little more than a month Tanya Kyiko has received enough donations to send three consignments back to her home city of Kharkiv close to the border with Russia.
Tanya said: “It’s wow. I’m so grateful. I don’t have enough words to express all my feelings. I’m so excited to get such an amount of help, of aid.”
Ms Kyiko, aged 65, lives with hosts in Stoke Prior and is supported by Bromsgrove & Redditch Welcome Refugees.
She said within a week she had received seven large boxes of syringes and other medical equipment from NHS doctors, as well as numerous crutches and much more.
One donor drove from Wrexham with a boot full of crutches. Adam Dobrzynski, who had one pair following a knee operation, said he felt compelled to help.
“One pair of crutches?,” he said. “I can do better than that. I just spread the news and hadn’t expected such a response really.”
“I am a carer by nature and by trade – it’s one of my jobs – and whenever I can help people around me, I am trying to do it.”
Ms Kyiko is determined to support Ukrainian troops and civilians because she knows every day that new people are being wounded.
She added: “Our city is bombed every day and every night without stopping.
“It is a desperate need for any medical equipment that could be useful to help them.”
Ms Kyiko has now widened her appeal, asking for a range of medicines, dressings and equipment mostly available in pharmacies, as well as packet tea and coffee and yoga mats.
Bromsgrove and Redditch Welcome Refugees have shared a list on their Facebook page of wanted items.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/BromsgroveRedditchWelcomeRefugees for more information. Email [email protected] to donate.
