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From Energodar to Fife: Ukrainian mum and daughter settle into new life and school

Ukrainian mum Maryna Masiutkina and daughter Alona
Ukrainian mum Maryna and daughter Alona, 9, in Fife where Alona is enjoying her time learning, after they were forced to leave Ukraine because of war. Pic: Steve Brown / DCT Media.

A Ukrainian mum and her daughter are settling into life and school in Fife after fleeing their war-torn country to seek safety in Scotland.

Maryna and daughter Alona arrived in Dalgety Bay just three weeks before schools broke off for the summer holidays following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.

Maryna was able to enrol her nine-year-old daughter at a local primary school and Alona is settling into classes and making friends.

Ukrainian mum Maryna  and daughter Alona, 9, in Fife.
Ukrainian mum Maryna and daughter Alona, 9, in Fife. Pic: Steve Brown / DCT Media

Maryna said they are adjusting to life in Scotland and that Alona is enjoying school.

She said: “We came to Fife because I had a sponsor here.

“She helped me to get my visa and I was able to get Alona into the school.

“We came here in June three weeks before the holidays and Alona was happy for her first day at school.

“She likes the school.

“We come here on the bus every morning.”

She revealed how her daughter communicates with her class teacher: “She has special cards which she shows to the teacher,” she explained.

“School subjects and actions are drawn on them.

“Alona chooses a subject and activity, draws it on the card and then shows it to her teacher – that’s what Alona told me.

“She can also say a few simple words in English too.”

Maryna continued: “She likes drawing – she draws every day!

“She likes to draw people, fashion and dresses. She has also made a lot of friends.”

Alona, 9.
Alona, 9, has been settling into a local school. Pic: Steve Brown / DCT Media

But Maryna, who has left her husband and parents back in Ukraine, said it hasn’t been easy, particularly for her daughter.

She said: “The first month we were here Alona said ‘No mummy I don’t want to speak English because I want to go home to Ukraine to my house, my father and to my dog’.

“Then the second month, she says: ‘Mummy what is this? What can I say this’ and now she tries to speak English and wants to play with other children.”

Maryna, who worked as a speech therapist in her own country, has started doing an English language course.

‘Living one day at a time’

But she is unsure how long she and her daughter will be staying here: “In Ukraine my city is occupied now and it is very scary.

“My husband said to me ‘Maryna you must leave because for Alona it is very dangerous.’

“There are only men now in Energodar, no women and children.

“My husband is staying at home just now as the factory he was working in has now closed.”

Maryna, keeps in touch with him via the internet and by mobile phone, and added: “I don’t know how long we will be here. I am just living one day at a time.

“I don’t know what will be tomorrow.”

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