Help bring my family back home, pleads Kenyan living in Ukraine
James Mweu Masyuki, the representative of Kenyan students studying in Ukraine at Nation Centre, Nairobi, on February 25, 2022. He is a medical student in Ukraine.
James Mweu Masyuki, 32, is a Kenyan living in Ukraine. He is an Oncology student at Kharkiv Medical Academy.
He had taken study leave from his day job in Kenya to pursue his education.
The story below is narrated by Mr Masyuki, who is also the representative of Kenyan students in Ukraine.
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“Had I known that Ukraine would go up in flames barely two days after I landed in Kenya, I would have carried my entire family back home. I feel very bad. It is painful, I do not know what will happen next. All I know is that they have boarded a train heading to Lviv, a town in the more peaceful side of Western Ukraine near Poland.
Everyone hopes that once at the border, they will be allowed to enter Poland. It is a tough bet, because we have not heard if the Kenyan government has negotiated with the Polish government to allow us into their country.
I was woken up at 6:30am on Thursday by a distress call from my sister Valentine Nduta, who lives with my wife Stephanie Mukami and my daughter, Katuta Mweu. They could hear the bombs being fired at Hostomel Airport. The airport is barely 20 minutes away from my house.
Shunning dollars
My baby, who is four-years-old, must be really scared. My wife is terrified and my sister is in tears. She keeps calling me and giving me updates while crying. The situation is so bad and I feel terrible that I cannot bring them home.
They want to come back, but how is that possible when we are not getting clear directions from the Kenyan government?
I cannot send them money; the Western Union offices in Ukraine have been shut down. The big banks are only dispensing Ukrainian currency, they are shunning dollars, pounds and euros because they are bracing for possible inflation. It is a self-protecting move. But again, I do not even have enough money for their flight tickets.
I came to Kenya last Tuesday with hopes of settling an issue I have with my employer which has not paid my salary since June last year, yet I am on study leave. It is very tough being a student in a foreign country and having no income yet you are paying your own school fees.
I came to Ukraine in late 2019 to further my studies on Oncology at Kharkiv Medical Academy of Post Graduate Studies. The programme was to take four years and I am currently in my third year. No one can give you a job with a student visa so I could not work. As far as I know, employees are still paid a portion of their salary when on study leave. That is the issue I had come to sort out before I go back to my family.
I never imagined that the situation in the country would deteriorate so fast in such a short time. The last time I spoke with my family, they told me they had carried all they could and were heading to the subway station. The bombings had become too much.
(Unknown to Mweu, authorities of Tmayor in the city of Kharkiv where they lived had urged residents to head to subway stations, bomb shelters and basements at 2pm).
Unlike the Russia-Ukraine war in 2014, when I was still an undergraduate student at Lugansk State Medical University, I feel this particular attack on Ukraine is going to be worse. It was during that time that Russia helped the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea to disengage from Ukraine and become semi-autonomous states. It was a terrible time; the house I lived in at Lugansk was shelled. Luckily, I had left Lugansk and went to finish my medical studies at Sumy State University in Sumy.
This time round, things are really bad. The Russian military has surrounded Kiev and I have been informed that they are currently destroying bridges surrounding the city. This way, they will block access and take over Kiev. Ukrainians feel that their neighbour wants to oust President Volodymyr Zelensky and replace him with their preferred leader.
Stranded
Streets are deserted. Kenyan students are stranded. They wonder why they have not been given clear directions by the government.
What makes it worse is that Kenya does not have a consulate in Ukraine. What we have is a honorary consulate run by a Ukrainian, Anatoliy Kavalenko, who has volunteered to help us. He keeps updating us and is the one who advised the students to find the swiftest means possible to head to Lvivi, which is barely 40 kilometres from Poland’s borders.
They feel bad because their fellow students from Ghana and South Africa informed them that their governments have contacted them and given them clear directions on what to do. For instance, South Africans are being allowed to cross the border and get to Poland.
There is one Kenyan student called Rashid living in Odessa, which is primarily a military zone in Ukraine and has been under heavy attack by Russia. The last time we spoke, he had told me they were most likely going to be given refuge at the military bases, but as it is turning out, the attacks are targeting military bases and airports. If he does not get out of there soon, he might be in grave danger!
Kenya has issued a cautionary advisory urging all Kenyans to leave the country and stay away until further notice.
I do not care that coming back to Kenya may mean that my wife will have to stop her studies mid-way and that my daughter will have to leave her school and friends and start afresh in Kenya. All I want is for them to cross the border, get their travel documents and board the next plane back home.
My wife is a second year student studying Cyber Security. She dropped her studies in Nursing at Zetech College when I came with her and our daughter in 2019. My sister is also a student.
My appeal is to the government and President Uhuru Kenyatta: this is the time for Kenya to show its might as a country. We need you to do more to bring all Kenyans stuck in Ukraine back home. Other countries are doing that: the US not only asked its citizens to leave last week but also helped in facilitating their transport back home. That is what a sovereign state should do to ensure that its citizens, regardless of where they are, are protected.
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When reached for comment, the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs assured that it was doing all it could to help Kenyans stuck in Ukraine.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in touch with all the neighbouring countries of Ukraine within the EU to seek their accommodation and to allow Kenyans to transit through their countries should they wish to return home,” the Ministry said.
“Kenyans are encouraged to harbour there as they wait for the situation to settle down and or as they make their plans to come home,” it added.
Poland has reached a deal to allow Kenyans in for 15 days.
