Essex man donates laptops to Ukrainian refugees
It's to help them access online learning and work
Last updated 25th Sep 2022
An Essex man has collected and donated nearly 80 laptops to Ukrainian refugee families.
Through the Laptops 4 Livelihoods campaign that Chelmsford-based business coach Peter Boolkah set up, he's been able to distribute 79 laptops to displaced families in Poland.
It's hoped the laptops will enable Ukrainian children to access remote education, and their parents to find remote online work and learn Polish, to help them feel more settled in their new homes.
Peter told us why he set up Laptops 4 Livelihoods: "I was trying to think of what longer-term help I could provide all those being displaced.
"Then I realised, we've got a global labour shortage and Ukrainian women who are really clever professionals and career people, who've had good jobs and have a lot to offer.
"People don't want to go to a country as a refugee and just live off the state, they want to be able to add value, get their confidence back and rebuild their lives.
"I just thought this would be a fantastic way to aid that, what with remote working becoming a lot more widely accepted, which will help people to build their careers again, get work, make money, and eventually rebuild their life in Ukraine, when the war comes to an end."
He notes there have also been some other benefits: "it's helped reduce homesickness as well, because it's opened up their ability to be with people back home."
The second-hand laptops that Peter has sourced have been given to the International Bund Polska and the Slavic Mission in Poland, which is accommodating 3,500 displaced Ukrainian women and children.
They've been distributed with support from volunteer, and charity worker, Faye Savage, who is originally from Bristol but now lives in Krakow.
She explains why the campaign is so important: “Many people left Ukraine in a hurry and weren’t able to bring laptops with them. They left behind jobs and the children left behind their schooling. The children are still being taught remotely from teachers either still inside Ukraine or in Poland so there is a desperate need for more laptops.”
The campaign continues to collect donations to be sent over, and Peter himself will be visiting Poland at the end of the month to deliver laptops to families.