Anna’s Story – Volunteers’ Week 2025

We spoke to Anna, who volunteers with Scottish Refugee Council and Refugee Festival Scotland, about her journey as a volunteer in her native Ukraine and in Glasgow.

Tell us about your volunteering journey.

My volunteering journey began back in Ukraine in about 2018, I guess. I helped to organise a small residence association – it’s similar to a Housing Association, but it’s more like a country because every householder has the right to vote and we gather and together make decisions about what we should do. So it’s like an election to make decisions.

It was not a big building, about sixty flats. Thanks to those efforts, we were able to replace the leaking roof and also the sewage system which significantly improved life for the householders.

In 2022 when Russia invaded, it was a full scale invasion and the need for basic support was overwhelming. I remembered my skills and together with other Ukrainian women we established small workshops to make vests and tactical gear for our defenders. It was not unique – it was everywhere in Ukraine. At that time our supplies were crucially low, so it was in high demand every day.

So later, in 2022 I arrived in Scotland. I found myself part of another initiative – almost accidentally. I started occasionally attending services in Glasgow Cathedral and I met Reverend Mark Johnston, who is Minister of Glasgow Cathedral, and I approached him and asked if I could leave a small remembrance cross or poppy in the name of my brother, who fell in Mariupol in 2022.

Reverend Mark instead offered something greater. He said, “Let’s do a book and establish a cross”. A remembrance book and establish it in memory of the fallen defenders.

I asked Ukrainians across Glasgow and Scotland to send their beloved ones’ – family members and friends – their names and some words about their lives. We gathered around a thousand names through Google Forms, and I double-checked the surnames to avoid copies or doubles or misspelling.

It was the most emotionally devastating project, actually. Very heavy and you have to be deeply immersed in every family we reach.

Later, Reverend Mark offered to do remembrance workshop together with AUGB (Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain) Glasgow. We organised this big workshop and it was broadcast so that a thousand families could see and hear the names of their beloved ones.

One Ukrainian, also a veteran of the war, when he heard about the reverend’s initiative, said he wanted to make this cross. He made a wooden Maltese cross – a symbol of the Ukrainian Cossacks, and now – the emblem of the Ukrainian army. Now this cross stands in Glasgow Cathedral, and there is also a tablet with a book of remembrance.

Now I am involved in two projects – the first one is Scottish Refugee Council. Since October 2024 I’m a volunteer at the Refugee Integration Service and also recently I started working as a representee with Refugee Festival Scotland, which runs in June. So, this is my story of volunteering.

That’s incredible. Thank you so much for sharing. It seems like you have a long history with volunteering.

I was also surprised when I started thinking about it!

What are the benefits of volunteering?

It keeps our community together and helps to prevent isolation. It keeps us connected through our sharing experience and support.

It also keeps attention on what is still happening in Ukraine – the war still hasn’t ended. It doesn’t just matter for us, for Ukrainians, it matters for the whole of Europe.

In my work now with Scottish Refugee Council, I work with different people, not just Ukrainians. I can draw directly my own lived experience and it makes my support more empathetic and useful.

At the same time I’m constantly learning. I see other people, other refugees who have other needs, and I interact with different cultures. And it’s actually incredibly inspiring and motivating, and I’m happy to be part of that.

I believe that, you know, every small effort… well, it works. Yes, I am just only one person. We have an expression. I am a drop in the ocean. So, my single drop could contribute to a big ocean. An ocean made of drops. I believe that it will help make this world better.

What’s your favourite thing about volunteering?

It’s all about achieving the results. So, when I volunteer, I see that my efforts, my time, my resources, they were used. They improved someone’s life. It motivates me. It shows that the effort isn’t wasted – it’s needed. That more is needed, even.

When I think about the housing association, I see real, tangible improvements – changes you can actually see and feel.

Even with this grief project, it was so important for families. We got so many messages after when a family was happy that a name of their beloved one who had fallen was read, so they are not forgotten.

In thinking about the Refugee Council, I see that. My advice helps. My volunteering efforts help people find their footing and build a new chapter of their lives in a new country. They can be more integrated in society, find the new future for themselves, for their kids, and open their potential, and make a contribution to society, at the end of the day.

Thank you for speaking to us, and thank you for everything that you do for your communities and for Glasgow.