Greenbelt Refugee Aid Committee’s (GRACE) first sponsored family arrived from the Netherlands on May 5. The wait at the airport immigration line took about two hours, but the process of sponsoring our Ukrainian family took four-and-one-half months. The committee, consisting of Bill Jones, Joyce Campbell, Dorrie Bates, Steve Skolnik and Frank Gervasi, spent many hours planning, filling out forms, collecting monetary and furnishings donations and so forth.
GRACE originally signed on to the WelcomeUS site in November. The site offers potential sponsors a chance to chat via translation with Ukrainians and other nationalities. The first family we contacted was still in a very unsafe circumstance in Kharkiv, Ukraine. After numerous letters and conversation, that family, the Martynenkos, decided to stay home because the husband was not allowed to leave Ukraine and their 7-year-old son did not want to leave without his father.
The family GRACE did sponsor, Anna Syzonova and her daughters Anastasiia and Mariia, were living temporarily in a home in a suburb of Amsterdam. Over 2,000 Ukrainians living in a city of 40,000 had created a severe housing shortage. The government, at least, made sure none of their guests would live in tents, a scandal early in the refugee flight when over 10 million Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes and spread out across Europe because of the Russian invasion.
GRACE’s family had immediately fled their hometown of Sumy, which was close to the Russian border and one of the first places to be occupied.
They had had their bags loaded, just in case, (most people didn’t believe Russia would actually attack) with clothing, food and medicines. This turned out to be a prudent decision.
Those staying behind have endured 15 months of terror and disruption. Yaroslav, a Ukrainian student Gervasi tutors in English, reported last week via WhatsApp that the past 10 days in Kiev have been especially difficult. Sirens and explosions happen at 3 and 4 a.m. and at other times designed to make life for civilians fearful and miserable.
After many days on the road, Anna and her children found the first of three lodgings that would house them until they finally came to Greenbelt. Their third hosts, Floris and Olwen, were very kind, generous and caring people Anna and her girls reported. The couple made sure GRACE and Greenbelt were suitable places for this family they had come to know and care about.
