Friday March 11, 2022 | INTERNATIONAL (via Giza, Egypt)
[Last update March 14, 2022]
A travel feature by Tanya Lester | for Island Social Trends
These are people whose world, as they knew it, has come to an end.
We are now over two weeks into Vladamir Putin’s Russian war invasion into Ukraine.
It is winter.
Racing away from bombs:
Tania Sydorska’s family has scattered in different directions while they raced away from Russian war machines and bomb explosions in their own country.
Her daughter has left the capital of Kyiv and is headed for Romania. It is a safe country for Ukranian refugees as many along the country’s long borders are.
But Sydorska’s motivation for raising money on GoFundMe is focussed on her grandson.
Just out of high school, Vitality has completed a solo journey from Kyiv to Lviv (hundreds of kilometres apart) and on to Poland that Sydorska describes as “very hard and nerve-wracking days”.
Vitality is so highly motivated he sat 30 hours on an unheated bus with one backpack. This was followed by sitting on a train floor, with no heat, for 50 hours.
Sydorska’s grandson has been a tennis player since age 5. He needs a visa to move to Odessa, Texas, USA to play on a tennis team there.
Getting the visa in Ukraine is impossible with the war so Vitality wants to apply for it in another country.
“Next we are not sure,” wrote Sydorska. They need to raise many thousands of dollars for Vitality to follow his dreams to America, for equipment and university fees never mind food, accommodation and clothing.
Her GoFundMe page has raised $14,915 USA from 86 donors with an initial goal of $30,000 USD. This is not counting university fees.
Childhood in Hungary:
Judith Humphrys’ motivation to start a Ukraine fundraiser on her Facebook page on her recent birthday is in memory of her childhood experience in Hungary.
During World War II, Humphrys’ father was arrested for helping Jews who needed to escape from the Nazis. Humphrys was imprisoned with her parents.
Faraway from this Eastern European experience, today Humphrys, a retired spa owner, lives with her husband on beautiful Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada.
Humphrys is far from the first to compare Putin with the Nazis.
She has thought about World War II, grateful that she has aged well with only minor health issues. Her conclusion is she wants to help others escape Eastern European war by raising money.
We talked about being disheartened by the Western Countries’ sanctions against the Russian aggressors. Laughable really, if it was possible to muster a laugh.
We talked about younger people holding rallies in Russia against the war as being far from enough.
Humphrys also believes the world should have closed down all Russian embassies and sent the ambassadors home as a way to disempower Putin and his followers.
Safe in Poland:
Calling herself Olaknitting Art ( perhaps afraid Russians might pursue her if she used her real name) responded to a request from Island Social Trends for information on her family during the Russian invasion. She is located in Vancouver.
“My family from Ukraine crossed the border to Poland,” wrote Olaknitting Art. “They are safe with my family in Poland, in Pzemysl, the larger border crossing between Poland and Ukraine.
She explained that when World War II ended, the border shifting between Poland and Ukraine split her family between the two countries.
Now Poland is a refuge for family members who were living on the Ukrainian side.
Olaknitting Art said her united family in Poland is volunteering daily packing humanitarian aid.
Her truck driver brother delivers the aid to those who need it in Ukraine.
The days ahead:
Each day from here, each moment of those days, will carry unknowns and likely many challenges. Canadians in support of Ukraine and Ukrainian people are following the unfolding of history in real time.
===== RELATED:
K-12 seats for Ukrainian refugees (March 14, 2022)
BC Premier John Horgan on Ukrainian refugee crisis: housing & K12 (March 11, 2022)
Canadians offering support for Ukraine (February 26, 2022)
Streamline and speed up handling of Ukraine refugees says NDP (February 25, 2022)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Tanya Lester, BA is a freelance journalist and author. She has written this piece from Egypt, where she is presently visiting. Tanya is of Ukrainian descent on her mother’s side of her family. Recently, she watched BBC World News for many hours during the beginning of the Russian invasion against Ukraine in her Beirut, Lebanon hotel room. She visited Ukraine six years ago.
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is based on Vancouver Island, BC with an eye to socioeconomic issues not only locally and regionally but also nationally and internationally where there is interest or impact for our readers.
Writers with various types of interest and expertise are featured in this news portal at www.islandsocialtrends.ca including students from around the west shore area of south Vancouver Island. [Contact: news@islandsocialtrends.ca to pitch articles]
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR has traveled to many parts of Canada. She first built her business and publishing career in Toronto and Regina, then relocated to Victoria in 1985.