The Ukrainian refugee family makes new beginning in vacuumes

Last autumn, HV1 told the story of a group of volunteers named Plutarch for refugees who have collected donations to sponsor several families who are looking for a safe place for a secure place to re -settled in a rural Hamlet between New Paltz and Lloyd ((Lloyd) (Lloyd () (Lloyd (Lloyd (Lloyd ()https://tinyurl.com/4febkdrw). The agreements were made via Welcome Corps, a project by the US Refugee Commissioner (USRAP) of the US State Department. After the elections in November 2024, the future of two families soon expected in our region.

The new inmate of the White House lost no time to satisfy the resettlement program. One of the executive regulations signed on January 20 was “the Refugee Admissions program of the United States”, with refugees being exposed to the USA and all USRAP processing activities until further.

The executive regulation stipulated that the new policy is checked by the president in 90-day distances, based on reports from the secretary of home protection security and the Foreign Minister, “whether the re-admission of refugees to the United States would be part of the USrap in the interests of the United States”. The likelihood that a cabinet member will try to gain her boss's opinion seems to be negligible. One is surprised at the cynical irony of complaints about “illegals” at a time when the existing paths of refugees and immigrants restricted legal asylum, citizenship or residence.

According to reports, refugee families from many countries are rejected in the US entrance ports after they have already spent all the funds that they could scrape together for travel expenses. Regarding the lucky ones who were already here when all of this began, there are a Ukrainian family who currently lives in Saucerties: Oleksandr (Sasha) and Anna Herasymeniuk and her 7-year-old daughter Vira, who arrived in the USA last May. Anna's mother, Oksana Kostiuk, joined them in November. According to Anna, “she got the last plane to the USA.”

The Herasymeniuk family found a safe refuge here in Ulster County through Welcome Connect. Her sponsor, a homeowner of vacuumes named Mike Mcisaac, had a lot of additional space in his hands in February 2022: his marriage had separated and his daughter and son had left out to pursue a job and a college. In a short time “a lot of things happened,” he says. And then he watched the news about the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. “I always hated the war,” he says. “So I started asking myself: 'What can I do?'”

McIsaac was not released by his job long afterwards; When he heard about the start of Welcome Connect in January 2023, he was not in a financial position to become a sponsor. But he thought a lot about it. “Then I received a new job offer on the second anniversary of the invasion. It felt like a sign, ”he recently wrote in a letter to the publisher of this publication. “I visited the Welcome Connect website again and started to become a sponsor.”

As soon as he made the decision, everything came together very quickly. “I joined and five minutes later I received a request from the refugee family” HV1 In an interview in his house, which he now shares with the same Ukrainian family. A lot more answers followed, but he decided to go with “first served, first served”. Less than three months later, he met the Herasymeniuks at the JFK airport.

The family had far from the Polish border in Lviv, a city in West Ukraine. Therefore, it was not one of the first places in the country that were attacked by Russian troops. But the family was already intimate with the effects of the war. Sasha, who worked on the radio communication field for 17 years, had been a member of the National Guard for 17 years, three times in the Donbas region from 2014. His PTSD diagnosis qualified him for the status “Military Disabled” and the possible emigration permit.

For her part, Anna lost her first husband through the war, “killed by Russians”. She gave up her original career as an editor and journalist to work for an organization for social services that supported disabled military members. So she met and married Sasha.

Although her home was far from the main slaughter front, the security of the war has already been felt in LVIV. With so many resources that focused on the eastern part of the country, crime and corruption remained uncontrolled. Young men were violently involved. “Hospitals did not admit people and there were people with mental illnesses on the street,” says Anna.

Stories returned to the family about friends and relatives who had died or had experienced horrors through Russian troops. Ukrainian war orphans near the eastern borders were kidnapped and resumed with Russian families. For a dark, realistic picture of life in war, Sasha recommends that the Americans have the Oscar PS PBS documentary in Mariupol for 20 days (Oscar-edged Frontline documentary (www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvayykrvpbo). “There are no safe places in Ukraine,” he says.

When Vira was 4 years old, her mother took her with a walk in an LVIV park, just to experience a violent incident that convinced Anna that it was time to get out of the country. It only took a week for Sasha to get permission. “The shootout didn't start long,” says Anna.

Her first step was to Poland, where they spoke a little of language and quickly learned more to find work. But Vira, who had previously had problems with language delays, suddenly began to “speak in English” after being exposed to American cartoons on Polish television. The move to America seemed to be a good idea – or “fate”, as Anna likes to put it.

Welcome Connect brought together Mcisaac and Herasymeniuks in May 2024, but Vira's grandmother Oksana had reluctantly left her hometown – until it became too dangerous to live a place of residence. “The shootout was getting worse and worse,” says Anna. “On September 4, the beginning of the school year, there were terrible shootings in LVIV. They destroyed my daughter's kindergarten. A piece of splitter came through my mother's window and she got a concussion. “Oksana finally agreed to emigrate and joined the rest of her family in Saucerties in November.

Mcisaac handed over the stairs of his house to the rent -free Herasymeniuks and in the first few months they shared the meals “like a family,” he says. Then Sasha and Anna found both jobs, and their schedules no longer converged. As part of Connect Connect, the donors collect enough money to support a newly arrived family in the first three months. After that, adults are expected to work.

Although Sasha did not speak English at all on arrival, he found a full -time job almost immediately after his availability was published. He now works on long days to split the fiber-optical internet cable for the Planet Networks company, and has to temporarily commute and from his headquarters in New Jersey.

Anna bought a car and learns to drive. She started to report voluntarily for after-school programs in the Boys and Girls Club in Saucerties and is now working as a consultant. She says she loves the people there, the feeling of being in a supportive community, and it enjoys helping others, even though the payment is minimal. “If fate has helped me, I should give something back,” she explains. “I look forward to having such people around me.”

Vira was immediately enrolled at school, although the school year was almost over. As a exuberant child, she quickly recorded English in her family, visited dance courses and found many friends. “They are all their sisters,” says Anna. “My daughter has the feeling that it is at home here.” Vira's favorite toys is a souvenir of her home country: a stuffed toy dog ​​who represents the bomb sniffing Jack Russell Terrier, who received a presidential medal from the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelsssskyy. The family also has a Canadian sphynx cat for pets, which they accompanied on their travels, called Fakksam called Fluffy.

In view of the current state of US politics, the striving for the herasymeniuks to Asylum is not yet certain. Your official “entrance class” is still listed as a Ukrainian humanitarian probation (UHP), but the U4U program of the Association for Ukraine (U4U) was housed on January 28th. Sasha says that it costs 5,000 US dollars per person just to prepare the case.

As war refugees, Sasha and Anna Fest are convinced that they are not going anywhere except to find their own house. “We can't sit on Michael's shoulders all the time,” says Anna. “I wouldn't return to Ukraine because I'm afraid of my daughter. If I had no children, I would go back and fight with the military. We would both. “She smiles.” But there are no Russians here. “