The Hosts
Five people who opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees share their experiences. A podcast that explores why we reach out to those in need.
Home for Ukraine
Kelly, Owen, Carol, Judy and Helen are among the thousands who offered shelter to Ukrainian refugees. What motivated them to welcome perfect strangers into their homes? Against a backdrop of parochial political narratives, and criticisms of selective empathy, Affiong Bassey and Charlotte Albutt explore the dynamics behind a complex act of altruism. Listen to audio excerpts from hosts and experts who feature in the podcast.
"Empathy is one of the main triggers often related to helping people in need, but might not be enough to explain such a complex behaviour like hosting somebody for months in your house."
"With the increasing use of media, we are now bystanders of global emergencies."
"Listen to refugees, build relationships, learn about their needs and challenges."
"There needs to be a change in the notion of what a refugee and migrant is."
Listen to the full episode of The Hosts
Reporting this story
This story started with another story. Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, Affiong Bassey covered an anti-war rally, where she spoke to several refugees who had just arrived in the UK. Follow-up interviews put Affiong and Charlotte Albutt in touch with hosts who were, as one of them put it, "excited and elated ... but also apprehensive". Many who had signed up for the Home for Ukraine scheme were facing difficulties, dealing with a "Tinder-style" "find-your-own" refugee process. Some were overwhelmed even. But they still wanted to help. Which made us wonder: what motivated them? And: how do we sustain such altruism?
"We tried to go beyond merely pointing out deficiencies. We wanted to see how the situation can be made better for the refugees and hosts. We spoke to experts and we tried to present options and possibilities that people can adopt at the individual and community level, and also at the policy level. "
"We were very aware that science reporting tends to lend itself to male experts and overlook women. This was a trap we did not want to fall into."
Credits
The Hosts comes from The Breaker, which publishes multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University.
The Hosts was presented by Affiong Bassey, and reported by Affiong Bassey and Charlotte Albutt. Additional reporting by Aman Singh Gandhi and Delya Apsari. Executive produced by Chindu Sreedharan and Jason Hallett.
First broadcast on Hope FM Morning Show, on 24 February 2023.
Special thanks to Inna Nykyforova, and our sincere gratitude to the refugees and hosts who shared their experiences with us, and the experts who offered us their analyses.
The soundtracks in this podcast are used under the Creative Commons license, and are from Everything at once by Hozina Patrol and Gentle Soft Piano by Alex Productions. Cover image on this web page created with Dall-e 2. Box icon used on this page created by Adib Sulthon - Falticon.
Our news practices are influenced by principles of diversity and inclusivity as well as the ethos of constructive journalism. Our work, thus, drew from a variety of resources in these areas, including scholarship on representation,peace journalism and solution-oriented reporting, andcrisis journalism.
If you would like to contact us, please email Chindu Sreedharan at csreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk
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