Ukraine conflict: Hastings student fund raising to support her medic brother on Ukraine frontline

A Ukrainian woman based in Hastings is working tirelessly to support her brother, who is a medic on the frontline in Kiev, and other friends and family members.
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Krysta Shiels, 43, and known as Krys, is a British national with Ukraine origin, who is a mature student at the Hastings campus of East Sussex College.

Krista is dividing her time between fundraising for urgent medical aid for Ukraine and studying for her Certificate in Make-up.

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She said: “My brother is a doctor - a very talented surgeon who was selected to go to Germany with his wife and infant. A few days after the war broke out, he left everything to volunteer as a medic in Kyiv.

Krys Shiels SUS-220330-091602001Krys Shiels SUS-220330-091602001
Krys Shiels SUS-220330-091602001

“I have contact periodically with my brother, very practical contact. He tells me what he needs, and I try to organise it from here. That’s all the contact I have, so when people ask, ‘how is your brother?’, all I can say is, ‘I know he was alive yesterday’. I don’t know how he is. I can’t imagine he’s doing very well.”

Krys has been collecting donations to support Ukraine. Donation bins are at the Station Plaza campus entrance, as they are at the College’s other main sites in Eastbourne and Lewes. Staff and students are urged to contribute supplies so desperately needed.

Krys recently organised medical supplies to be delivered to the authorities in Poland. The donated equipment was then picked up by volunteers, who work to get equipment into Kyiv. It was in Poland on the 11th (March), and Krys received confirmation from her brother that he’d received the equipment just three days later.

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“This is for life-saving equipment, things like chest shields, not first aid,” Krys explains. “It’s to help people - if they didn’t have this equipment they would die.”

Staff and students have united in supporting Krys’ initiatives. A twice weekly book sale is now a regular occurrence with people donating what they can.

Lisa Cullingworth, LRC Study Skills Mentor at the College, has been selling crocheted sunflowers. “Her flowers are truly beautiful and are such a powerful way for me to signal my Ukrainian identity in a positive way I can be proud of,” Krys says. “It’s a fitting symbol, as sunflowers were planted by Ukrainian and Russian political representatives to mark Ukraine renouncing its nuclear weapons and since then have become a symbol of peace for Ukrainians.”

Aside from her fundraising, Krys is striving to educate and build bridges of communication for young people in Ukraine and in the UK. This is an angle she is passionate about as a former teacher (Krys worked at sixth form colleges in London before the birth of her second son) and a mother of two young children. “I hope to facilitate a live video link between the College and my family links in Lviv.

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“Both of my children are in primary school, so I wanted to devise some educational resources about Ukraine, so children can learn in a safe way about Ukraine - where it is and what’s happening - so they can understand that people, including children, are getting hurt by conflict inside Ukraine and also in Russia.”

She added: “I can’t imagine where I’d be without the support I’ve received at the College or how I would’ve coped. This is my lifeline. The past month has]been hard for anyone who is Ukrainian. I’m surrounded by amazing people, who are so supportive.”

Pauline Greig, Wellbeing and Progress Mentor at East Sussex College Hastings, is full of admiration for Krysta, saying: “My first meeting with Krys was quite emotional really. She had already started thinking about fundraising ideas, she was very inspirational. Her work is going to raise medical supplies which will go directly to her brother on the frontline and help people in Ukraine. There’s educational stuff which has gone out to primary schools that we’ll be using in the College as well to educate people about Ukraine; it’s a brilliant piece of work. I can’t imagine what she’s going through and only have admiration and praise for what she is doing.”

Krys cites her make-up artistry tutor, Celina Zomer, as “a godsend, a phenomenal, amazing person.”

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She added: “I’ll keep going as long as I’m needed. This is the meaning of my life right now.”

People can support Kry’s fund raising pages at Crowdfunder: Urgent Medical Aid to Ukraine and GoFundMe: Urgent Medical Help for Ukrainian People.