OLDS — A local man helping some of his relatives flee Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion is overwhelmed with the generosity of local residents and others across North America.
A few weeks ago, Peter Premachuk found via Facebook that he had a fourth cousin – Sonia – in a small village in northwestern Ukraine.
Since then, he and many friends and cousins across Canada have been working to bring Sonia, her husband and their young daughter, as well as Sonia's sister and her husband and their young children to Olds – at least for a couple of years, if not permanently.
Great progress has been made. They were scheduled to arrive in Poland by last week. Once there, an apartment has been rented in Warsaw where they can stay while awaiting their visas.
Arrangements are being worked out to fly them over to Canada and volunteers have offered to go with them to coordinate things and provide reassurance, as making such a big move is a pretty scary proposition for the two families.
If all goes well, Premachuk said they could arrive in Olds by about the end of this month. He joked during an interview that timing was not great, as he runs a tax service in Olds.
Premachuk said a story the Albertan published and posted regarding those efforts has brought amazing results. He made a pdf of it and sent that out to various family members across the country.
Friends, relatives and even complete strangers from Ontario to the West and down into the U.S. have sent money to help facilitate the move.
“People have donated $50, $25, some larger amounts,” he said.
“But the generosity of the Olds area, it’s really surprised me. I’ve had clients who read the article come in. They just leave an envelope of cash. They don’t want a receipt or anything, but we’re still trying to receipt everything.”
Premachuk figured they’d need about $60,000 to cover those costs. As of late last week, organizers already received about $30,000 in donations.
“And then we haven’t tapped into Rotary grants and stuff like that. There’s been some money raised by Rotary, so we’re getting there,” said Premachuk, a former president of the Rotary Club of Olds.
But it’s not just money that’s been donated.
Premachuk said the owner of a rental property with two suites has said organizers are welcome to all the furniture in those two suites.
Another landlord has offered to make housing in Olds available for the two families on a month-to-month basis.
Volunteers are drawing up a list of what they need and what’s been donated; partly so they can keep track of things and partly so they can thank donors for their generosity, even though some of those donors wish to remain anonymous.
A woman Premachuk has described as a “fixer” who speaks Ukrainian, English and Polish has offered to help the families navigate the bureaucracy and simply get around Warsaw while they await their visas.
Concern has also been expressed about the fact that some human trafficking occurs amongst refugees so they’ve found volunteers to help the families avoid that.
Initially, Sonia was worried because her daughter didn’t have a passport, just a birth certificate, but Premachuk says a passport has been obtained for her via an office that just recently opened up near their village.
But it hasn’t all been good news.
One of Sonia’s sister’s brothers-in-law was killed during the invasion. A funeral for him was held several days ago. Another brother is missing.
That’s been very traumatizing for the family, on top of the pressure of working out all the details and bureaucracy of the move to Canada.
“They had a funeral today; 300 people in their little village of a thousand people showed up and they don’t know about the other brother, so it’s really hit home for them, that’s for sure,” Premachuk said.
“And they’re all going through the anxieties now as we get closer to the departure, of being worried about travel and kids. Concerns, I guess.
“The double-edged sword of feeling guilty about leaving and knowing it’s a good thing for their families at this stage. And still relatives staying back and things like that.”
Premachuk said Sonia’s mother has been crying a lot as she realizes the move is imminent. But at the same time, she knows that leaving Ukraine as the war rages is best for them.
In the midst of all that, came news of the slaughter by the Russians of residents in Bucha and other Ukrainian communities.
Sonia texted him about that.
“She was obviously very upset. She saw the pictures, because they saw the same ones that we saw,” he said, adding she texted him asking “why the world isn’t doing anything about this, right? How can the world stand by and let these things happen?”
"I just said, you know, the world is mad, you know. And the politicians are doing more and more sanctions and stuff like that, and she sent me a text back and said, ‘we don’t need sanctions. Sanctions and weapons aren’t stopping them from killing those people.’
“It’s hard for them. It would be like if I was sitting here and I got pictures of a whole bunch of people killed in Saskatoon or Winnipeg and I saw those types of pictures, right?”
There have been all kinds of concerns.
"Igor, her husband, is missing a finger and the top of his thumb from working in a sawmill so there was concern that, well, how can they get fingerprints if he has no finger?
“I called the Immigration Canada hotline which was really good; I got through right away. And they assured me, but I needed to do that,” Premachuk said.
The husbands are anxious to work as soon as possible once they get to Olds. Premachuk said efforts are already underway to find work for them.
Later on, once the families are settled, other issues, like enrolling in English as Second Language classes can be dealt with.
Premachuk says Sonia has been overwhelmed with the generosity of those who have donated to help them come over.
“She almost becomes choked up,” he said.
Premachuk said once the two families have had some time to rest and become acclimatized, some Rotary Club members plan to arrange a dinner for them and many Ukrainian people who have previously emigrated to the area.
"We’ll just have them come somewhere and they’ll all just sit down and a few of us Rotarians will just serve them and just stay away and let them talk away in Ukrainian,” he said.
“I think they’ll be surprised at how many people here speak Ukrainian. I’m surprised at how many people that I’m starting to hear (about), just through friends and stuff like that. So it’s good, it’s good.”
