Penn- Barwell/BBC
Jenny Penn-Barwell hosted a Ukrainian family in her home for a year and a half since the full-scale invasion began. After that, the pensioner bought a separate house for them. The woman pays the loan from her pension.
Pensioner Janie Penn-Barwell lives in Eastleigh. At the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, she took part in the program of accommodating refugees from Ukraine. The BBC writes about it.
Ukrainian Oksana Chernova and her two daughters – 17-year-old Olena and 14-year-old Yara lived in Jeni's house for a year and a half. And after that, the British woman bought a separate house to house a Ukrainian family there.
According to Oksana, when the pensioner gave her the keys, she finally felt that she could stop running away. Their family felt incredible happiness and sincere gratitude.
It's great, I felt like I was running, running, running and finally stopped. I just relax and let my daughters do what they want and realize their dreams, Oksana shared her impressions.
The family left Ukraine almost immediately after the start of hostilities in order to save the children. The head of the family, Slava, who before the war was a master of special effects in film production, remained in Ukraine and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces.
Oksana with her daughters/BBC
Penn-Barwell says she is not very rich, but decided she could afford to take out a mortgage and rent out the house to Oksana and her daughters. The woman also added that she was “really proud” of how her guests managed to settle into their new place.
It wasn't that we were too cramped, we were fighting or anything, absolutely no, but I understood that they needed their own home. I guess it seemed obvious to me because they had nowhere else to rent, and I thought if I could do something, I should do it. I could, so I did. If you don't need anything, why not do something useful? Janie Penn-Barwell said.
Oksana and her daughters moved into a new house six months ago. The girls now have their own rooms, study at the local school and prepare for exams.
The girls now have separate rooms/BBC
Yara and Olena told reporters that during this time Janie became a member of their family, and now they call her “grandmother”.
She is definitely a member of our family. Now I don't see her as often as I would like, I miss her, she can really make my day better, Oksana shared.
The woman also added that her heart remained in Ukraine, but she she still feels happy when she sees her children happy.
Girls now have separate rooms/BBC