It’s been a long journey from the cement basement in Ukraine where Kateryna Liashenko was hiding with her young son at the tiny, newly renovated apartment unit in Brantford.
But the Liashenko family is together, safe and happy to be one step further in their resettlement journey.
Kate and four-year-old Yarek were separated from her husband, Yurii, when the Russians invaded the Kherson region of Ukraine. While the family had recently moved to Poland, Kate had returned to Kherson to let her parents see their grandson and ended up trapped there by the military operations.
“I had to stay underground and there was shooting all the time,” Kate said through a local real estate agent, Alla Sharma, who helped the family find housing.
The shelling went on for a month and a half with the area surrounded by tanks and soldiers.
“It was terrible and very scary to be by myself with Yarek with Yurii in Poland.”
Because of young Yarek, who turns four on Wednesday, Kate got some extra assistance from aid workers to get out, taking three days to move through at least seven Russian checkpoints where some people were shot as they were nearby.
“There were bombs everywhere and we had to move through explosives,” said Kate. “We could see buildings and apartments in ruins.”
The family was finally reunited in Poland and quickly applied to come to Canada, scrapping up the funds needed for airplane tickets and arriving on May 6.
Since then, they’ve been hosted by families in Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton and Brantford, occasionally having to separate from each other.
“We are tired out from going from one place to another,” Kate said through Sharma.
Yurii got a job at Ferrero so, on Monday, the family moved into their new Murray Street apartment, which has a generous kitchen, tiny living room and two small bedrooms.
There’s no place to sit yet, but Sharma donated a stackable washer/dryer, tucked away in a closet, and local real estate broker George Lou Karmiris has also taken the family under his wing, getting them some beds and gift certificates for clothing and food .
“My parents came here from Greece back in the 1960s with nothing,” said Karmiris. “So, I feel for this war-torn family. This was not their doing and I can’t imagine leaving your home and coming here with zero.”
Yurii, who was a purchasing manager in Ukraine and a tradesman in Poland, goes to work on a bus right now but hopes to apply for his Ontario driver’s license soon. Kate plans to put Yarek in school in September and look for a part-time job.
She’s a bit concerned about the coming winter as they have no warm clothing, coats or boots but they are connected to the Slavic Full Gospel Church, which has been a donation hub for about 25 Ukrainian refugees so far.
To assist Ukrainian refugees in general, contact the church through Irene Stepus at 519-209-3856. While the group is not taking donations of goods right now, it is encouraging people to donate food cards for refugee families or funds that will help refugees fly to Canada. The group also assists with finding furnishings, jobs and housing.
To help the Liashenkos, contact Sharma at 519-756-0297.
@EXPSGamble