Meet the Mancunian Podcast: social impact stories from Manchester · Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe

Uplifting Ukrainian voices with Maria Romanenko

·32 min·2 clips

Maria Romanenko recounts the chaotic 23-hour border escape from Ukraine, fearing for her life amidst pushing and stretchers.

This episode features host Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe in conversation with Maria Romanenko, a Ukrainian journalist and award-winning volunteer nominated for a Spirit of Manchester Award. Maria discusses her journey fleeing the 2022 invasion and her subsequent work supporting Ukrainian refugees in Manchester. She details the traumatic 23-hour ordeal at the Polish border, witnessing overcrowding and casualties, before using media connections to secure passage to the UK. Maria explains that government-promised "wraparound support" for Ukrainians has significant gaps, leaving many struggling with mental health trauma, language barriers, and underemployment. Her primary initiative organizes free, bilingual walking tours of Manchester for displaced Ukrainians, which she interprets. The first tour had 120 registrants, and she has since conducted tours for over a third of the Ukrainian population in Greater Manchester, totaling more than 1,500 people. She replicated this model in Liverpool during Eurovision, garnering international media coverage from broadcasters in France, Germany, and Australia. This work earned her the UK Prime Minister's Points of Light award. Maria also provides extensive signposting to help refugees navigate housing, schooling, and bureaucracy, citing a distrust of authorities within the community. She advocates for Ukrainians to local government and media, emphasizing that many skilled professionals are now trapped in minimum-wage jobs like hotel cleaning due to limited English. A surprising insight is that standard ESOL language classes offer only five hours of weekly group instruction, which she estimates requires three years to achieve proficiency for customer-facing work. Maria reveals she has volunteered roughly 3,000 hours while managing her own trauma and resettlement challenges. The episode highlights her philosophy of "giving back" after benefiting from strangers' kindness, exemplified by a stranger in Primark insisting she accept £20 for wedding clothes. Her advice to others is to not fear "ridiculous ideas," seek partnerships, and persist through rejection. The conversation is educational and conversational, focusing on personal narrative and systemic challenges. Listeners interested in refugee support, community organizing, and uplifting personal stories will appreciate this episode. Those seeking a lighthearted or entertainment-focused podcast might find the subject matter too heavy.

As heard by us

A Manchester-rooted conversation about Ukrainian support that stays practical, humane, and close to everyday need.

Maria Romanenko and Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe talk through support for Ukrainians in Manchester in a grounded way. The focus stays on guided tours and signposting, with the everyday issues people ask about: school, work, housing, and what it takes to settle after sudden…

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Why you'd press play

Press play for Maria Romanenko's Manchester story of supporting Ukrainians as they settle in.

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