OLDS — Ukrainian families that have settled in Alberta and their supporters -- including Town of Olds Mayor Judy Dahl -- gathered in Centennial Park Aug. 20 for a celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day.
That day is actually Aug. 24, the day in 1991 that Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union, but as one Ukrainian newcomer said, Aug. 20 was close enough.
The Albertan was on hand to interview four people from one extended family who fled the war in Ukraine to settle in Olds and Calgary.
Davyd Natsvaladze, 33, his wife: Anna Shyyan, 34 and their eight-year-old twin boys Gio and Dato, along with Davyd’s sister Meri Natsvaladze, 29, all live in Olds now, having arrived in the community last December.
Sister-in-law Valentyna Natsvaladze and her husband Shota plus children Nina Natsvaladze, 11 and Nika Natsvaladze, 9 now live in Calgary.
They all arrived in the community with the help of local realtor Barry McCurdy and his partner Katharina Escher, who helped them get settled by setting them up in a small home they had and providing them with a vehicle, among other assistance.
The family all lived in Odesa, but on about Feb. 27, 2022, they decided to flee Ukraine just a couple of days after the war started.
"It was every hour we can hear these horrible sounds – bombs – and nobody knows what to do and how long it will be, so we just – at night picked up our bags,” Anna said.
They left good jobs behind: English teacher, project manager in a non-profit, marketing manager and fashion retailer.
They took an onerous journey through four countries in five days: Moldova, Romania and after that to Bulgaria and Turkey before arriving in Georgia, where Davyd was originally from.
Some passport issues occurred involving the kids but they were sorted out.
The family chose that circuitous route because going directly east would have meant going through Russia and they thought that was just too dangerous.
Davyd said young as they are, the kids understood they were fleeing a war.
They discovered that Valentyna’s son had actually recorded a video on his phone saying the war had started and he needed to remember that. Family members were shocked.
Valentyna said even now, when her kids bring home school work she has seen some words they’ve written about their experiences like, ‘I don’t like Russians... They made us to leave our home.”
Anna said they were treated wonderfully in Georgia because the Georgians had been invaded by the Russians and were very sympathetic.
They got many services including housing, public transport, food, and medicine for free. There was lots of entertainment for the kids.
They said due to what happened to their country, many Georgians are fighting in the war on the side of Ukraine.
However, the Georgian language was too difficult to understand.
“It’s like Chinese for you,” Davyd said with a laugh.
So because they spoke English, the family decided to move to Canada.
They knew many Ukrainians live in this country, they’d heard there was good government support for refugees and they were hopeful they could obtain jobs here.
Also, Anna made contact with McCurdy, who offered them the home, etc. in Olds. They landed in Calgary last December.
Davyd said jokingly when he learned all that McCurdy was offering them he asked ‘why is he so kind? Maybe he's a maniac?’”
Meri said they’ve found that McCurdy and Katharine are not the only kind, helpful people in the community.
“I was really in shock how people are open and they always support people. Small talk, smiles,” she said. “Back in Ukraine it’s not really common to ask someone ‘oh, how are you today?’”
Since they arrived, the family has found rental housing and jobs and the kids are doing well in school.
Anna’s working in a bank, Meri is a social media specialist for McCurdy, Valentyna is a property manager in Calgary and Davyd is still doing the job he did back in Ukraine as an IT specialist. However, the time difference means he does a lot of work at night.
They are all settling in pretty well. The kids have adjusted quickly to the language and school in general.
In fact, Valentyna said when the parents ask “what happened in school today,” the kids respond in English.
The family was asked if they plan to return to Ukraine.
Valentyna said no. She said so much of Ukraine has been destroyed as a result of the war that there’s really nothing to go back to.
Besides, she doesn’t trust the Russians. If peace is declared she questions how long it will be before the Russians become aggressive again.
“Unfortunately, we still will have the same neighbours,” she said, adding virtually everyone in Ukraine has lost someone or otherwise been affected by the war.
Parents came over too, but Davyd said it’s difficult. His mother knows English but his father doesn’t so the adjustment to a new country has been hard.
“For our parents’ generation it’s more difficult to find a job and everything here because we learned English in school so we have some basic knowledge, but they didn’t,” he said.
The whole family is very grateful to Olds residents for all their support.
McCurdy said he and Escher were just happy to help.
McCurdy said he saw this opportunity as a way to provide help directly to people.
“When I give, I give directly to people. I want to see the results, I want to see happiness,” he said. “So that’s one of the reasons we zeroed in on somebody coming to the country and assisting them.”
He estimated that about 20 people have now lived in the little house they provided before moving on to jobs and places of their own, not only in Olds, but moving as far as Edmonton and Vancouver.
“They’re contributing to the way that we are in Canada,” he said. “It’s really good actually; really good, nice to see.”
