A Ukrainian refugee says her host family in Worcestershire are her 'heroes' for supporting her to get to work in the UK.
Oksana Bitinieva, 32, fled war-torn Ukraine to live with a family in Hartlebury in April.
Since fleeing she has started a new job at Hogarths Stone Manor Hotel, in Kidderminister.
The jewellery designer and wedding planner from Kyiv has started at the hotel as a housekeeper to get to know the place- and then she's hoping to join the wedding team.
Oksana has not seen her husband or her cat since leaving Kyiv in January to visit a friend in Denmark, unaware a war was about to break out in her home country.
After a month, she went to Krakow in Poland to stay with another friend.
Then, in April, her friend hooked her up with a host family through contact in England, that's how she moved to Hartlebury in Worcestershire.
"It's good to learn languages and earn money. It's a good opportunity."
Oksana assed that she wholeheartedly believes Ukraine will victorious over Russia, so one day she will return.
She said, "I miss Kyiv very much, because, for me Kyiv is the best city in the world."
"Maybe we will be her one month, two months or six months, I don't know. it's very great I can work here, that the Government allow me to work here."
I spoke to Sharon Augustine, a care worker at a care home, who told me her views on the story.
"The hospitality industry was ravaged by the pandemic"
For the manager of the hotel, hiring refugees like Oksana is a solution to the staffing crisis that was caused for the hospitality industry but Brexit and Covid.
Adam Bessant said "Especially with Oksana's background in weddings it was a perfect fit."
"We will welcome anybody with a background and a love of hospitality with open arms"
The UK's Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme grants refugees a visa that allows them to work, if they are sponsored by a host family as part of the Homes for Ukraine programme.
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