Magen David Adom UK and ‘Angel of Mostar’ unite to bring Ukrainian orphans to UK
More than 50 young refugees and their guardians to join special flight to Britain after being rescued by Sally Becker and Dnipro Kids.
Justin Cohen is the News Editor at the Jewish News
The largest airlift of child refugees from Ukraine is due to touch down in London this week, following an operation involving British humanitarian Sally Becker and the UK branch of Israel’s medical emergency service.
Most of the 52 youngsters aged two to 15 were taken to safety in Poland by Dnipro Kids, a charity established by fans of Scottish football club Hibernian that supports orphanages in Ukraine, after the invasion by Russia.
Another 20 children from the same city were last week taken over the border by Sally Becker, who became known as the Angel of Mostar in the early 1990s for her work evacuating injured youngsters and even arranging ceasefires in Bosnia.
Following an intervention by Robert Rinder, who heard about their plight while broadcasting from the border last week, Magen David Adom UK contacted Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss and within hours the airline had committed to fly the group to the UK.
The flight was expected to arrive at Heathrow airport on Monday, although reports have indicated that it may be delayed for administrative reasons.
Dubbed Project Light, the mission will see the group brought from Warsaw to London, before spending the next two months in Scotland.
“The children have found themselves caught up in a conflict not of their making and beyond their understanding,” Save a Child founder Becker told Jewish News hours before take-off.
“By going to the UK they will be able to live without fear of being killed by a shell or a bullet until the war is over and they can go home.”
With accommodation secured on the banks of Loch Lomand, the home office gave the green for the group and their seven legal guardians to come to the country last Thursday evening, after Becker lobbied for the move alongside the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who raised the issue at PMQs last Wednesday.
“There’s no way we could have moved them without their help,” said Becker of MDA, which has already sent armoured ambulances to help Ukrainian medics. “I’ve always respected the amazing work they do globally. I’m hoping this will be just the start of collaborating.”
Becker – who began her work in war zones after watching television news showing people under fire in Sarajevo and being reminded how others had failed to come to the aid of Jews during the Shoah – travelled to Ukraine after war broke out to help local doctors use a new app connecting local medics in besieged areas to a network of 250 paediatric specialists around the world.
The app – developed by Save a Child which also funds the journey for children needing lifesaving treatment in another country – had been developed since its origins as a Whatsapp group linking those tending to kids fleeing Isis to the children’s department of Hadassah in Israel.
She said: “We saved many lives. I was going to show doctors in Ukraine how it worked. That’s what I was doing when I got a call from our project manager about 20 orphans still trapped in Dnipro. They got out on a train then onto a coach I arranged to get them over the border to Poland.”
She recalls with pride a message one little boy had relayed to her during a conversation over google translate moments earlier. “You are great fellows. We are very grateful to you. Without you we’d be sitting under shelling.”
Daniel Burger, CEO of Magen David Adom UK, hailed “the most unbelievable efforts” of Dnipro Kids and Becker’s Save a Child in getting the children to safety. He said: “This mammoth operation has only been possible thanks to so many people’s generosity and we can’t wait to welcome the group on board the flight.
“Lifesaving is Magen David Adom’s reason for being and we wanted to support Ukraine in any way possible. From supplying ambulances and medical aid to making this brilliant rescue flight happen, we are doing all we can to help the country and its citizens”.
Blackford – who has praised refugees minister Richsrd Harrington for his support in the case – said: “I’m delighted that by working together, we have been able to overcome the unnecessary barriers imposed by the Home Office, and I am grateful to all involved. I hope that the Home Secretary will learn from this whole situation and work to ensure an approach that supports missions such as this.”
He also called for all visa requirements to be waived for Ukrainian refugees.
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab pointed to safeguarding issues governing orphans to explain why clearance for the mission had taken time, and stressed that the government was gearing up for 100,000 Ukrainian children to enter the UK school system. Twenty-one young cancer patients were also brought to Britain by the government for treatment.
Following this week’s operation, Becker said she plans to return to Ukraine to assist in other cases where children are trapped, including Odessa. This time she anticipates they will be placed in the care of local authorities once they’re safe, rather than coming to the UK.
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