Send a Mariupol survivor to Harvard Kennedy School

Last year I managed to escape from my hometown of Mariupol in Eastern Ukraine. My mother and I (plus our 3 cats) shared a basement with 32 strangers in the besieged city for the longest month of my life. Overnight I went from developing financial models and pitch decks for tech startups to cooking on open fire under shelling, drinking radiator water, surviving multiple carpet bombings, and finally escaping on March 23, 2022 through sixteen russian checkpoints towards Zaporizhzhia.

Listen to me on NPR from Zaporizhzhia: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/26/1088991050/a-resident-of-mariupol-tells-her-story-after-fleeing-the-citys-horrific-destruct

Watch us cross the border into Poland with our 3 cats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwTfFFOc4aA

Watch me recount our experiences on CNN: https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/03/31/mariupol-evacuee-alina-beskrovna-ukraine-war-nr-intl-vpx.cnn

The worst part of it all was the fact that I didn’t know if my father was alive. He got stranded on the other side of the city, and I lost contact with him in the first days of the war, as soon as cell phone towers were bombed. For almost 3 months I thought he had been killed. Only in late May I managed to locate him and smuggle him out.

Watch me on Amanpour: “I no longer cared if I lived or died: A witness to the horrors of Mariupol” https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/04/25/alina-beskrovna-amanpour-ukraine-mariupol-war.cnn

Read my story on UN News: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1116422

Read Trudy Rubin’s column in The Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/bucha-ukraine-putin-russia-mariupol-20220406.html

Now all of us are safe in the US. My plan is to spend the next two years on preparing to rebuild Ukraine. After winning the war Ukraine will be in desperate need of international development experts. I want to make a career switch from math and finance to international development, where I can be of most use.

This year I became the only Ukrainian to be admitted to Harvard Kennedy School for the Master in International Development program. I was also awarded a full-tuition scholarship.

However, I am still looking for funding to indirect expenses: housing and utilities, food, books, clothing, and basic necessities. We lost all our savings and property due to war. Neither of my parents speak English or drive and are fully reliant on me for their needs, so I need to bring my family with me to Cambridge. My father suffered a massive stroke in April 2023. I simply cannot rely on my parents to be breadwinners during the next year. Additionally, I was advised by Harvard against working during the first year due to the rigor of the program.

As much as I hate being in this position, I am hoping to crowdsource our living expenses only for the first year, so I can focus on preparing to rebuild my war-torn home.

Please consider contributing to rebuilding Ukraine by enabling me to get the education, resources, and contacts I need.