Friends, family of refugee relay story, help from community
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Valeriy, Kyril, Tatiana and Danial lay out their quilts and prayer shawls received from Aurora United Methodist Church. The family moved to Nebraska in mid-July as refugees from Odessa, Ukraine.
On Feb. 24, Valeriy is out in the cool waters of the Black Sea as part of an international shipping company based in Ukraine. Within 24 hours, life for him and his family will be turned upside down.
Russia had launched an invasion of Ukraine via the Donbas, Crimea and Belarus, upending the lives of an entire nation. Ukrainians had a choice, stay to fight or weather the storm or get themselves and family to safety. Up to six million have chosen the latter, according to the United Nations.
This is one story of how a local community opened its heart to help people 5,000 miles away.
“The whole community has pitched in and wants to help,” said Patti Kell, a member of the United Aurora Methodist Church.
The family of six included grandfather Paval, grandmother Ludmilla, mother Tatiana, father Valeriy, 7-year-old son Kyril and 2-year-old son Danial. They were located on the port city of Odessa in western Ukraine and had unknowingly prepared for the long road ahead.
The family had a United States brother-in-law, Jason, who lived in Odessa for a few years, and married family member Iryna in Ukraine before moving to Nebraska. Paval had been in Nebraska as part of a planned visit to the state.
“They had already been working to plan a visit, so they had started the paperwork to get visas,” sister-in-law of the family Allison Heiss said. “So that gave them a leg up because it is difficult to get a travel visa in Ukraine under normal circumstances.”
Still, the majority of the family had to flee, first to the Polish border, after Valeriy was detained for a few weeks at port in Odessa, having to stay at a hotel before being flown 1,000 miles away to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus with a family friend. It was there that Ludmilla would discover that she had colon cancer, for which she acquired treatment in Cyprus.
Across an ocean there were was a community ready to open up to the refugees. The Aurora United Methodist Church congregation would help Heiss to move the family to the United States and into Jason’s house. Pastors Greg and Michelle Reed directed her to Kell, who had already formed a group looking to help Ukrainians in need.
“There was a group of us that had been discussing how we can do this?” Kell recalled. “Would refugees feel comfortable in Aurora, Nebraska, without any Ukrainians around? What can you do? You can always give money to an agency, but if you want a personal involvement how do you do that? And we had a personal involvement right in our midst!”
In mid-July, the majority of the family -- excluding Ludmilla, who is still in Cyprus for cancer treatment and her husband Paval, who flew to the country to be by her side -- moved to the United States. The family received community support in the form of bookshelves, beds, bed sheets, a car seat, dressers, clothes, gift cards and two hand-knitted multi-colored quilts with a collection of prayer shawls. Community member Deb Fisher helped them navigate the complex process of immigrating to the US. The family will also receive three donations/offerings from Messiah Lutheran Church this month.
“One thing I felt would be so valuable, as a parent, as a mom, is to be able to go out and have the retail therapy of getting your kids some clothes, getting yourself some clothes,” Heiss said about providing gift cards. “It was just to help them feel normal again.”
Adjusting to life in America has been both challenging and rewarding for the family, according to Heiss and Kell.
The family lives with the brother-in-law Jason in eastern Nebraska, using most of the space in the home to fit the now 10 people who live there.
Another challenge is the language. Valeriy and Tatiana knew some basic English, though they need three-hour lessons every day. The children, based on the amount of places they went to make it to the United States, have not had time to absorb the language.
“They (the parents) pointed out since February these children have been in Odessa where the language is Ukrainian and Russian, then to Poland and then Cyprus where it’s Turkish (and Greek),” Kell relayed. “So imagine the confusion level.”
Kyril has to prepare for first grade in the upcoming weeks and their parents have to find new jobs after securing work visas. As of now, the family doesn’t wish to communicate if they will stay for just the duration of the war or for longer, though the grandparents plan to make the trip to the United States after the cancer treatments are done.
Throughout the odyssey from Odessa, the biggest surprise for the family is the kindness of Nebraskans.
