“Communication is absolutely the key for hosting.”
Anne-Marie and her husband Howard started hosting after getting involved with supporting refugees through their church. Here, she speaks with us about opening her home to two guests at once and shares her advice for first-time hosts.
“When the war in Ukraine started, our church became aware that among the first refugees to arrive to the UK, quite a few moved into our area. We started a coffee morning on Saturdays where they could come for hot drinks, cake, and to meet local people and other Ukrainians fleeing the war.
“There was a lot of support offered through the Church to our visitors and for new hosts in our area– some brought clothes and essentials; others who had English Language teaching skills volunteered in a language hub offering free English lessons. The families had access to a local community fridge which was open 3 mornings a week where they were able to obtain good quality food from local Supermarkets that would otherwise gone to landfill. We helped develop a resource folder to help our visitors integrate into our local community.
“We got involved in a few of these things and got to know some the families. At one point we had nearly 50 Ukrainian’s attending the group. Initially we did not offer to host as we’d only just moved to the area, however after a short time we thought ‘this is ridiculous, we’ve got three spare bedrooms, and we could easily accommodate a guest’ – so that’s what we did!”
Their first guest, Sofia, a woman from Ukraine, stayed with the couple for a year and a half, and found hosting was such a positive experience that they soon decided to do it again. After we matched them with a new guest, Hanna – another woman from Ukraine – they found out that things hadn’t gone as planned for Sofia’s new job and accommodation and asked if she could return.
Anne-Marie said: “We wanted to help her, but we’d just said yes to another guest. In the end, we thought that as we had the space, so it was not really an issue for us to have them both staying with us!
“It worked out really well. Hanna couldn’t speak any English at first so Sofia was able to translate and help her settle in. We’ve learned a lot about Ukrainian culture, and it’s been a great experience.
“Hanna has enrolled in some English classes at our local College. There’s a hotel not far from us who have quite a few Ukrainians working there. Sofia had previously worked there for a short time, and she was able to introduce Hanna to the idea of trying to get work there. She was successful and things are going well for her, recently earning ‘Most Valued Employee of the Month’. We felt very proud of her achievement.”
For Anne-Marie, the biggest challenge has been the language barrier. She said: “English is a very difficult language, but we’ve become very proficient at Google Translate!
“When Hanna comes home from work, she’ll have this pre-recorded conversation so she can tell us about her day in English, and we make sure to speak in short, simple sentences. Sometimes we’ll watch TV together with the subtitles on and which helps her a lot when she’s learning new words. It’s been heartening to see Hanna becoming more confident in her spoken English, she has worked really hard on this.”
“Communication is absolutely the key for hosting. There have been some misunderstandings when using google translate and we often were confused by dates for appointments which we found out were wrong, but we’ve managed to salvage situations with humour and learned to use WhatsApp for clarity if we want to make sure that we definitely understand each other.”
When asked about any advice she’d give to new hosts, Anne-Marie stresses the importance of giving guests respect, and their own space and just checking in regularly to ensure they have all the information they need to allay any anxieties.
“Before our first guest arrived, I put together a folder detailing a little about us, our family and our lives. We added simple house rules to avoid misunderstandings and detailing very general information such as where the local doctor is, how to register, who to contact in emergencies, how to get around the area – both our guests said it was really helpful.”
“They haven’t come from a normal situation, so we enjoy trying to do ‘normal’ things like cooking together just to make them feel at home. We’re making sure to give them privacy, not asking too many questions unless they want to talk, but at the same time it’s nice to check in every day and see if they are feeling ok or need anything. We have rules about boundaries – I give them space and don’t ever go in their rooms unless invited. We gave them both keys to our home when they arrived to make them feel our home was their home for the time they are living us.”
