Help Olesia and Daria - Ukrainian refugees

 

 

Olesia is the only sibling of my mom. She married her high school sweetheart Sergey, and they had their dearly loved Daria. They lived all their life in Odesa, Ukraine. My aunt is smart and hard working (she has two Master’s degrees). Her 11 year old Daria is very talented in mathematical school, swimming and music. We loved communicating with them online, and we never considered them moving to USA, just because they were happy with their lives. And then, unexpectedly, the terror of war flipped our world upside down! Sergey did everything possible to hide his family in a small “safe” town. He rented an apartment for them, and stocked them with food. Prior to Daria’s understanding of what is about to happen, he cheerfully waved them goodbye as they took a train to their “hideout”. Sergey remained behind and made his way to the front lines to defend his and other Ukrainian families. At first, Olesia was optimistic, saying that they were relatively safe there, and despite that she lost her job, Daria still had online school. As she was telling me that, she got a notice, saying that things got worse in the country, and school is canceled. That night Daria cried and shook from fear as sirens’ sound of aerial attacks filled the air. Following that they spent many hours hiding in a bomb shelter. Olesia attempted to video-call her husband, but other people in the shelter turned aggressive and were ready to beat her up and smash her phone (because they were afraid of being discovered by hostile army). That is when my aunt asked me for help, because it was time to evacuate! Thank God, they were able to reach the train station. They spent over 6 hours waiting in a crowd of refugee women and children (without bathroom access), for a hope to board a train. They were able to board it, and cross the Polish border. Kind people gave them some snacks, and allowed them to board another train in search for a place to stay. After almost 2 days of train rides, they were found by a family of volunteers that took them into their home, just in time, as a night set in Poland.

 

 

Olesia and Daria are helpless refugees. They have no money left. Besides us, there is no one family member that has not being affected by the war. My brother, mom, and grandparents live in Russia. They are experiencing the currency collapse, which is leading them on the path of hunger. My mom hears how the bomber planes are taking off from her town’s airport to attack Ukraine. She hears the sounds of shooting outside. She can not tell me more than that, because it is “forbidden to talk about”. Our family in Russia is not in a position to help Olesia and Daria, and even if they were, it would be too cruel to let Daria see and hear how bomber plains depart to attack her dad!

 

 

I don’t know how long the war will last, whether Sergey is alive, and whether their home did not become a pile of rubble by now. My husband and I feel blessed to live in a peaceful United States of America! We filed with the USCIS a petition for a permission to bring them over here to live with us. My aunt sees us as her only hope to help Daria to recover from that tragic event. Olesia is planning to get a job as soon as she can, enroll Daria in school, and try to get the life back to normal. They are planning to get a green card in due time, and become an asset to USA for life.

 

 

We are taking full responsibility for Olesia’s and Daria’s well-being, and will be covering all of the costs for necessities (airplane tickets, clothes, food, furniture, health insurance, etc.) I did not create this page to ask for help for us to pay for necessities. But rather, all your gifts will go directly to Olesia, so she would have a head start at regaining independence in such vulnerable position. She may decide that it is wise to put the money towards obtaining a car, so her career search would expand beyond walking distance. Or maybe she would use the money to enroll Daria in swim and music lessons, in hope to help her little girl to heal the trauma of being torn away from her dad. As they were fleeing for life, they left everything behind (including Daria’s dear violin). What little bit of Ukrainian money they had is worth nothing. At that point, a gift of any amount, even of $5 or $10, Olesia will accept with tears in her eyes. Please, become their unexpected hero and tell your friends about them, so just maybe they will be incredible to join you in such kind journey!

 

 

God bless,

 

Anastasia

This photo shows Daria celebrating Ukrainian culture before she could even imagine a war.


This photo captured last moments when Daria had seen her dad. (She did not know that the war was about to happen, and what it was going to do to her family.)




On these photos Daria is saying Goodbye to her dear violin. They were just about to travel by foot in an attempt to safely reach a train station, that would be their gateway to Poland.

This photo captured the long wait in the train station. One of the trains was cancelled, so they spent many hours waiting and hoping that there would be another train with a little room to take them into safety.

The main photo on this page depicts Daria with her mom on another Polish train, riding for many hours in search for a place to stay.