{"id":1774,"date":"2022-06-14T12:25:25","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T19:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2022-06-14T12:25:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T19:25:25","slug":"east-meets-west-ukraine-comes-to-abbotsford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/2022\/06\/14\/east-meets-west-ukraine-comes-to-abbotsford\/","title":{"rendered":"East Meets West: Ukraine Comes to Abbotsford"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Submitted by Guest Blogger, Mark Pearson, Senior Advisor, HR<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Since the war in Ukraine began, my family and I – like many others – have often felt helpless being so far away from the devastating effects on the people. Our most recent experience with devastation was watching our city, like others in the Province, be ravaged by flood waters, leaving people without homes, jobs, and livelihood.\u00a0 Although certainly a terrible event, the Russian war is on another level, and we wanted to help those displaced and fleeing their homes, towns, and country\u2026but what could we do?<\/p>\n

Several weeks ago, while on Facebook, I came across a group – CANADA – Host Ukrainians.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t searching specifically, but there it was.\u00a0 As I scrolled past story after story of people declaring their plans to immigrate to Canada, I saw a post from a woman who was planning to come to Vancouver with her family later that same week.\u00a0 I thought to myself, \u201cnow is your chance to help\u201d and I sent her a message to offer help. Although she did not reply, another man contacted me.\u00a0 Like her, he was scheduled to arrive in Vancouver on Saturday with his wife and young daughter, aged 9.\u00a0 This was Sunday night.\u00a0 He asked for help and once again, I was faced with a decision.<\/p>\n

I messaged him and the conversation began of their intended journey to Canada, with the clothes and two suitcases they carried.\u00a0 My heart and head said that we needed to invite them to stay with us\u2026but\u2026we didn\u2019t know them. I hadn\u2019t talked about it with my wife, my children, or my inlaws who live with us. What would they say?\u00a0 Was I crazy?<\/p>\n

The next day, I spoke with my wife and asked her about having this family stay with us and she said \u201cof course\u201d.\u00a0 Then, I spoke with my inlaws and they too agreed.\u00a0 That night, we did a video chat with the couple and let them know how we were prepared to help.\u00a0 Although they were anxious (understandably), they agreed to be picked up at the airport and stay with us at least one night to get a good sleep and morning meal.\u00a0 From there, they would make their decision about next steps.<\/p>\n

Every night, we would chat online using Facebook and get to know each other and make plans to help them with work permits, health insurance, a home, jobs, school, a car, bank accounts, cell phones etc.\u00a0 It was life on speed to arrange for these things so quickly.\u00a0 Saturday arrived and I met them at the airport and did my best to welcome them to Canada.\u00a0 They had fled to Germany soon after the war started and had a long journey from Frankfurt to Vancouver, and clearly needed some rest.<\/p>\n

The next day, after some breakfast and visiting around the kitchen table, we began to make plans for what they needed and how we would accomplish this.\u00a0 As I let friends and family know about the situation, the outpouring of help soon started with people offering food, household items, translation assistance, furniture, and company for this new family.\u00a0 The husband is fluent in English but his wife and daughter only speak Ukrainian and Russian so it was important that we do our best to help them feel welcome, safe, and that they belonged here.\u00a0 We also said that we would not talk about the war (so as not to re-traumatize them) unless they wanted to talk about it.<\/p>\n

As my children (aged 10 and 7) played with their daughter, it was INCREDIBLE to see the joy on their faces and hear the giggles as they used Google Translate to communicate about cats, dogs, games, movies and other things that kids love!\u00a0 After a week, the kids were \u201cas thick as thieves\u201d.\u00a0 We too, had grown to love this sweet family. They are kind, considerate, responsible, caring, funny\u2026and so much more.\u00a0 But, they also had deep needs and a desire for connection with their friends and family left behind in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

It has now been just over a month since they have been with us and we feel like so much has happened.\u00a0 We have connected them with so many wonderful people in our community and at organizations that have mobilized or can easily mobilize to help.\u00a0 I have been so touched by the outpouring of support for this dear family.\u00a0 But, there are so many others.\u00a0 Thousands.\u00a0 I\u2019m thankful that our experience has been a good one, and that because of this experience, friends that we know have contacted other Ukrainians moving to Canada to offer their help – albeit a message of help, a ride from the airport, a meal, a bed or\u2026a friend.
\nSoon, they will be moving out to their own apartment. They want to do this, as an important first step to getting established here in Canada. I can\u2019t help but feel like a father sending his children off to kindergarten or college – that \u201cniggly\u201d feeling one gets in his stomach when you say goodbye to those you care about.\u00a0 This next step is certainly mixed with emotion for me, and my wife and kids too.\u00a0 We have all formed a fast and furious bond with this family and want only the best for them.<\/p>\n

The last month has been a whirlwind for our family, and I can\u2019t even imagine how the Ukrainian family feels!\u00a0 They have expressed their deep gratitude for all the help that they have received\u2026but they feel a deep sense of guilt, loss, and grief over what they have left behind.\u00a0 Parents, siblings, friends, jobs, a family pet\u2026.their entire LIFE.<\/p>\n

I am not really sure how to close out this post because it\u2019s not one that can be tied up in a nice bow. If you are interested to learn more about our experience, or perhaps how you can get connected with a family, or just have some questions, feel free to reach out. I\u2019m still figuring this stuff out myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by Guest Blogger, Mark Pearson, Senior Advisor, HR Since the war in Ukraine began, my family and I – like many others – have often felt helpless being so far away from the devastating effects on the people. Our most recent experience with devastation was watching our city, like others in the Province, be … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":1776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4,11,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employee-stories","category-featured","category-information-and-resources","category-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/ufv-at-work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}