Tatiana Malysh and her 12 year old son Victor come from Liezhyno, a village near Zaporizhzhia in the south east of Ukraine. The city is currently controlled by Ukrainian government forces but is near the part of Ukraine invaded by Russian forces. Soon after the war started, Tatiana and her husband decided staying in Zaporizhzhia would be too dangerous, especially as Victor has special needs and wa
s suffering from noise of shelling. Victor’s father is part of the security team in Liezhyno and could not leave. Tatiana and Victor set off on an epic train journey of more than 24 hours to the western city of Lviv. At that time, Lviv was crowded with refugees and under attack from bombs and rockets. Tatiana decided they would carry on to Poland where at least they would be safe from the explosions. Polish people were have been generous with their help and Tatiana was allocated a place to stay in Malinowo in the countryside outside Dzialdowo, a regional town in the north of Poland. Before the war Tatiana was an accountant in a big factory. Now she works as a voluntary cleaner at the local school because she wants to contribute something to society. It happens that Jola George comes from nearby, and that's where Jola’s brother Czarek and his wife Hania come into the story. They live in a neighbouring village called Turza Wielka - where Jola’s family lived. Czarek and Hania visited us in Cooktown a few years ago and were very impressed by the town and its people. They now want to work with us to help Tatiana and Victor. We are in touch with Dzaildowo Starostwo (roughly the equivalent of our Shire) and official translator Anna Kanarska, and between us all, we’re going to do our best to Help Tatiana and Victor in their difficult times.
