Hi friends and supporters of Shelter For Ukraine,

It's been a while since we've posted, and a lot has happened. We thought that it was about time we gave you all a heads-up as to the progress in Slovakia.

As you may or may not know, when we sent out our last set of social updates, we explained that our goals for SFU had changed. The need for immediate housing was unfortunately not possible for us, as our Givealittle campaign did not reach the target we needed to complete phase one of the refugee operation we had planned.

After discussions with various NGOs in Bratislava, we decided that the development of longer-term accommodation would be more beneficial, and the ability to raise funds to develop this would be more realistic over a protracted time. On advice from Givealittle, we closed the campaign after 2 years with no further donations. We are still in the process of looking for alternative funding and will let you know of any new campaign developments as/when they happen.

At the moment, we plan to return to Slovakia in May, and with the help of our amazing volunteers, we will continue to work on the aspects of the building we can develop within the limited budget we have. Currently, this is all self-funded, so progress is slow.

Unfortunately, it has been quite severely hindered by individuals who live in our village and either support Russia's illegal war or have affiliations with far-right groups, who consider our plans to help refugees to be detrimental to the area. This has led to complaints about the function of the building and is now involving the local building authority, who have asked for specific permits to be acquired, which we were unaware were needed. This has resulted in the building authority putting a halt to all works relating to the new portion of the buildings, with the majority of the accommodation section being affected.

We do not currently have a timeframe as to when our submission will be accepted, but we hope that on our return this summer, we can resolve this with the local authority and the help of our local team in Slovakia.

On the personal level, this has been a very rough couple of years for both of us.

As some of you may know, Tam lost her Dad at Christmas in 2024 and we've been reeling from the aftermath of that. But if anything, it has strengthened our resolve to continue the work we're doing in Slovakia and work towards creating an environment that will be a safe haven for people in need.

So we'll update you as/when we can, and just want to say thanks so much for all your continued support, and don't forget that if you or anyone you know wants to be involved, or volunteer, please don't hesitate to contact us!

Lots of love,

Tam & Tris