Tuesday, March 1: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that 79 Kenyan students have been evacuated from Ukraine as part of the rescue efforts from the Kenyan government.
According to the Ministry, the evacuated students had gone to Warsaw, Krakovets, and Katowice while one student had returned to Kenya. Four students, however, declined to leave Ukraine due to personal reasons.
The Ministry urged Kenyans still stranded to contact the Honorary Consul in Kyiv.
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Foreign students stranded in war-torn Ukraine have been urged to stay at their places of residence amid the ongoing conflict.
This is according to a statement issued by Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry emphasised that the Ukrainian government believed it was more secure for foreign students to stay at their homes within the country.
Its officials, nonetheless, urged relevant agencies to step up efforts to aid their citizens including those who wished to be evacuated to their home countries.
"Temporary volunteer assistance points have been set up at the border to provide foreign students with food and cater for other humanitarian needs.
"As active fighting continues, we also believe it is more secure at this time for foreign students to stay at their places of residence in Ukraine," read part of the statement issued by the Ukraine Embassy in Kenya.
A number of Kenyan students stuck in the war-torn country opted to flee to neighbouring Poland to evade the chaos.
Changamwe Member of Parliament, Shimbwa Omar Mwinyi spoke with his daughter, stuck in Ukraine, on phone to follow up on her progress and safety. His daughter stated that they (refugees) had to walk for 25 kilometres to Poland for safety.
At the time, she decried that she hadn't eaten in days as most of the hotels in Poland were reportedly reserved for Ukrainians only.
"We already crossed the border and now we are in Poland. We (Africans and blacks) cannot be admitted to their hotels. They are telling us to go to Warsaw, a town in Poland to get accommodation for foreigners," she stated.
Further, Kenyan national and Kharkiv National University telecommunications student Stephanie Iman spoke to the media, stating that she struggled on her own to save her life.
“When we get to Poland, the Kenyan consulate in Ukraine has organised contacts for us. We are supposed to reach out to the contacts and have the consulate know that we have arrived safely. We are just trying to survive,” she told The Standard.
However, in the case of one Halima Hassan, she is yet to hear from her daughter, Hadija Mohamed, ever since the war began. Hadija is studying medicine at Bogomolets University in Kyiv- a city that was invaded by Russian troops on the fourth day of the conflict, according to the Guardian.
Halima lamented that her daughter, alongside her colleagues, could not be reached and this sparked fears and tension within the family.
“We are waiting for them to call us back. The last time we spoke, they said they were tired, having walked 10km on foot to the border. They were to rest in Poland then book a flight to and from Warsaw," Halima stated.
