“I feel like I’m breathing again” – Moray’s “inspiring” Ukrainian refugees “beginning to get back to a normal life” through work and education
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ALMOST two years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moray’s refugees have shared their inspiring progress towards returning to normal life – balancing the demands of family, education and work.
A UHI Moray event in November celebrated their “absolutely amazing” journeys, during which some have regained qualifications they gained in Ukraine, started college or university courses, began new jobs and undertaken work placements.
“I’m back doing what I have done for the previous seven years.”
Valeriia Otorvina worked as a tattoo artist in Ukraine for seven years before she was forced to leave her homeland.
The single mum, who has a three-year-old boy, realised soon after arriving that transferring her skills and setting up as a tattoo artist in Moray would not be straightforward.
However, with the support of the Supporting News Scots scheme and UHI Moray, she received help in arranging the necessary insurance, first aid courses and regional certification.
And she is now working as a self-employed tattoo artist again.
Alongside work, she has also started studying for an Art and Design qualification at UHI Moray.
She said the team’s help, along with accessible nursery care and free tuition, has made a huge difference to her life.
Since getting her job and craft back, Valeriia said: “I feel like I'm breathing again.”
“I have a three-year-old boy and it's quite difficult to get back into work anyway, but I'm also alone here with him and studying now too” she added.
“Sometimes it's very sad there are only 24 hours per day, but now I have a job again as a tattoo artist.
“I’m back doing what I have done for the previous seven years.”
Coming to Moray with her son in desperate circumstances, Valeriia said it felt like an uphill battle to get back in the tattoo studio hotseat.
“I came to Scotland because of the war in my country,” Valeriia said.
“And unfortunately that situation has still not changed.
“To get a job and to get back my tattooing certificates was quite hard.
“And nobody wanted to help with this because it's expensive here.
“But when I came to UHI I got a lot of help.”
The support from the team at UHI and the Moray Council resettlement team made a huge difference to Valeriia’s life.
“Because I'm new here, I didn't know anything about this country and how everything works,” she said.
“They helped me find all the answers about how to get qualified again.
“And I am beginning to get back to a normal life.
“They helped me solve all these problems - and have helped get me where I am now.”
UHI Moray began supporting refugees in June, using cash from the Scottish Government’s Supporting New Scots project.
In total, 20 refugees have been supported by UHI Moray through the programme.
The celebration event also featured other organisations that have supported refugees, including Moray Food Plus, Moray Leisure Centre and Business Gateway.
“I understand accounting, economics and management, but it's different in my language. So the right vocabulary is what I need."
Inna Sivko is a qualified economist.
During her career in Ukraine, she worked across the country’s banks and gained experience in accounting, finance and management.
Along with her top sportsman husband Oleksii, the pair have three children, with the youngest only one year old.
However, after war began in Ukraine, the couple were forced to abandon the life they knew for the safety of their children.
Despite the family having “100 questions” when they arrived in Scotland, Inna said, the “amazing, amazing team” tasked with supporting Moray’s refugees have helped her start an HNC course in accounting.
And, though it can be hard to balance job-hunting, caring for three children, studying for a qualification and learning English - free tuition and help with nursery bills has made it possible.
Meanwhile, her husband now works as a pool lifeguard and has helped others uprooted from their normal lives, by delivering swimming lessons to asylum seekers at the Eight Acres in Elgin.
With a degree in sport and a history as a top athlete he hopes to use the lifeguard job to help him progress within the sports sector.
“Of course, it's hard,” Inna said.
“We moved from Ukraine because we have three children, and it was hard to provide them with safety.
“We left for them.”
Since being in Moray, she added, the Supporting New Scots scheme has changed her and her family’s lives.
“This amazing project has really helped me and my husband,” Inna said.
“When we arrived in the United Kingdom, we had a hundred questions.
“We had no idea how to go about working here.
“And this amazing, amazing team helped us and many more Ukrainian citizens who study and work in Moray.
“And, all the time, they ask: ‘How can we do more for you?’”
Given her extensive technical knowledge and work experience in Ukraine, Inna said it was difficult to not be able to use them in the workplace.
“I decided it had to be a one-year course because I have three children. It's hard to study and care for them at the same time,” she said.
“The course I am doing helps me with my vocabulary.
“I understand accounting, economics and management, but it's different in my language. So the right vocabulary is what I need.
“My youngest is one-and-a-half, but this project helped me with the nursery costs while I study.
“And I don't pay for my education because Ukrainians have the same rights as Scottish people. It's free - it's amazing.
“And I have a bursary as well which is a really big help for my family and for me.”
“They're a really lovely bunch and they're so keen to be part of the community."
Leigh Miele, from UHI Moray’s employability team, said supporting the “inspirational” refugees was not something she expected to be part of her job when she started.
However, she said it was the project she has most enjoyed as part of her job.
She said the service has worked with more than 20 refugees, with a range of qualifications and English skills.
With many very well qualified, she said it can be “frustrating” for them to not be able to use their skills and knowledge because of cultural or language barriers.
However, praising the “incredible journey” she has seen in those she has supported, she detailed that many have already had positive outcomes and have been able to continue their career where they left off.
“They are very inspirational people and I think we're very lucky to have them in our community,” Leigh said.
“And I hope - I really hope - that they stay in Moray and continue to just be part of the community.
“They're a really lovely bunch and they're so keen to be part of the community.
“They're keen build a life here, from what they've come from, and they will.
“And they're happy volunteering, they're happy doing any sort of work just to improve their English and just to build their skills, which I think is really important for them as well.”
She added that helping the refugees has “probably been one of my favourite projects I've worked on.”
“It's just seeing their journey from when we first meet and talk about their goals to them actually achieving their goals,” Leigh said.
“It is absolutely amazing.
“And knowing that we've had a part in that is really nice.
“Knowing that our services are actually helping people.”
The project began after the team was asked to help a Ukrainian woman, as part of Moray Council’s resettlement efforts.
After she was helped with her CV and had work experience at the employability office, she went on to secure a job at Gordon and MacPhail.
“Because of the success of that, when the funding came out for the Supporting New Scots, we decided we would go for it,” Leigh said.
“We felt it was something that would really help the refugees living in the Moray area, whether they are going into education or employment.”
Once funding was agreed for the scheme, it became Leigh’s role to meet refugees, to recognise their skills and to build an action plan.
“Obviously a lot of them are very well educated individuals, but they can't just come in and work as a doctor here, for example,” she said.
“It was trying to pull out the skills they have and look at what careers they could have here, or what education they could go into that would help them.”
Leigh added that it can be very difficult for refugees to have a wide range of skills, but lacking the English skills to use them in the workplace.
“They've often got all the qualifications but, unfortunately, their English isn't as good as it could be at the moment,” she said.
“So all of them are doing English for Speakers of Other Languages through the college as well.
“Which is important, because I think it can be frustrating for them.
“It's just being there to help, to reassure them that it will get better and that there is a future here as well.
“They've had to leave their country because of war and come to a country where they're not speaking their first language either.
“It must be very scary for a lot of them.
“It is really important we get this type of funding to help people in that situation.”
