UK Gran Flying To Ukrainian Border To Help Refugees Says She ‘Just Wants To Do Her Bit’
A grandma is set to leave her home in the UK and fly to Poland to help Ukrainians who are fleeing the Russian invasion.
Wanda Warrington, 55, who goes by Wendy, said she just wants to ‘do her bit’ by travelling to Przemysl, a city near the Poland/Ukraine border where many refugees are seeking help.
The grandma-of-five has taken three weeks off her job as a qualified nurse and midwife and is using her own funds to support herself during the trip.
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Speaking to Manchester Evening News, Wendy, who lives in Tottington, Greater Manchester, explained she wants to ‘make a bit of a difference’ to those suffering at the hands of Vladimir Putin’s troops.
She said: "I just want to go and do my bit. I'm nobody special. I'm a 55-year-old woman with three kids and five grandchildren.
"I want to offer some practical support in what I'm trained to do. I just want to make a bit of a difference."
As well as her 36 years of experience in the NHS, the grandma is fluent in Polish as her parents and grandparents were born in the country.
The outlet reported that her grandad moved to the UK after surviving the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Wendy’s been collecting donations for the people of Ukraine at the Polish Social Centre in Bury, but will now offer her services on the ground as a first responder alongside two medical students.
She continued: "I'm apprehensive but quite excited. I don't know what will happen or how it will transpire but I don't feel unsafe.
"My husband has made me promise not to cross the border to Ukraine and my eight-year-old granddaughter made me promise I will come back."
While Wendy’s family wants to make sure she’s safe, they fully back her brave decision, as do her co-workers.
In addition to her own funds, she has also set up a JustGiving page where she’s raised more than £3600 towards medical supplies, which her husband Simon and his employer Segen will help ship out to Poland.
Simon said: "I knew my wife would have to go over there. That's the sort of person she is. She's going into the unknown so I do feel apprehensive.”
If you’d like to donate to Wendy’s cause, you follow the link here.
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information
Daisy Phillipson