Natalia
Natalia came from Ukraine to settle in Devon in 2023. She settled in Devon after a volunteer organization helped her find a place to live for her and her five-year-old child.
"I did not choose Crediton on purpose, volunteers helped me. Two years ago, I was just looking for a way to save my son's childhood. Children should not even hear about the war, and they do not deserve to live in war.
"Unfortunately, when I arrived in Britain, I had to give up the good job I had. For the first time in my life, I found myself unemployed and without a real possibility of self-sufficiency. I am very grateful to the people I met here. They are different people, of different ages and professions, but with the same open heart and sincere desire to help.
"From the first days here, my job was to search for vacancies every day and write cover letters for resumes, which I still send, hoping that the next interview will lead to an offer.
"I love people, communication, I love new places and travel. In order to focus less on stressful experiences, my child and I treated our trip as a big trip. In Ukraine, I sometimes organised tours to different countries to help people get to know the culture, customs, taste the food, and enjoy the sound of the language of the regions in a new place. And now we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of a big island and learn the intricacies of a language spoken by almost half the world. For some, it sounds too romantic. But sometimes it helps to hold on.
"Something I have also brought with me to Devon is my love for macramé. It's one of the creative crafts I learned when I was a schoolgirl. Admiring the beauty, aesthetics of artistic products, objects of art, and at the same time, direct participation in the creation of beauty is what makes us human, distinguishes us in nature, helps us live, not just survive, helps us reach the 'next levels' of personal development and the development of civilisation. And literally every person has a creative gift and the ability to express their abilities in art.
"My professional work is intellectual. So the creating things with my own hands makes me relax and get inspired. Not only macramé, but I also enjoy knitting or crocheting, beadwork, cross-stitch and sewing.
"I also know the process of creativity has a strong therapeutic effect. When I ended up in Crediton I heard the organisation that was taking care of displaced people from Ukraine was running workshops in Crediton Library to share skills and hobbies and help with the mental health of those affected by the war. I accepted the offer to join the project and conduct a workshop. Macramé came to mind because it is easier than other crafts: a person can make something beautiful and useful at the same time in an hour or two. The first workshop was held in a Ukrainian conversation cafe, where there were also English people from the local community. Macramé aroused interest, so later we organised a workshop in the library. It was a big surprise that 20 guests attended this workshop, despite the fact that I personally had a very narrow circle of acquaintances in my new town, and I had no idea how and where to advertise the event. The library did it all for me.
"I noticed how enthusiastically the participants took up the threads and how some of them were quite bold, while others were cautiously tying knots. The participants of the first workshop asked when they could come back. I am very grateful to the Crediton Library for providing the premises without charging rent, which is extremely important, especially for the first steps. I would also like to thank the staff of the library for their support in organising the workshops: they always posted announcements, information about the workshops in the local newspaper and on the library's social media pages. It's a tangible support, given that you are completely unfamiliar with local opportunities and traditions.
"After a few workshops, which have broadened out to include local people aside from the displace Ukrainians, the meetings already had a certain club-like atmosphere. This was facilitated, of course, by the atmosphere of the library itself, where something interesting is always happening. There are exhibitions of artists, joint readings, reading quests for children, workshops. And just as parents and children often go to the library together, so families came to the macrame workshops. And don't think it was just mothers and daughters, but also sons and teenagers. And often friends also come to meet and chat, doing creative things together.
"For me personally, each workshop was a new challenge to myself, because I had to speak the language I started learning less than two years ago, when I first arrived in England. I am grateful for the sincerity and patience of each workshop participant, who helped me find the right word, sometimes specific to macramé. In fact, we immediately found a common language thanks to macramé in the creative process. And the difficulties of translation seemed to fade into the background. In my opinion, this was the best way to integrate into the new community, making it easier to understand the peculiarities of the local culture. And it proved once again that there are no barriers between people from different countries if they communicate in the language of art and are open to creating beauty and aesthetics. I worked with a 92-year-old lady who gave the best compliment: "I don't feel 92 anymore! Of course I can do these things!". She made a beautiful decoration for the house – a cute angel.
"Libraries are a great place for discovery, for diving into the depths of knowledge, for communication, and also for work. In fact, it was the first place I was recommended to visit, and I have never regretted it. The library became a fulcrum in my search for opportunities in a new city, in a new country."
