From Ukraine to Millbrook – a Family’s Story

Pictured is Elizabeth with younger sister Lena and parents Yevhen and Iryna on the steps of their temporary home in Millbrook in June

The war in Ukraine began in 2014 when I was only 5 years old. I remember very well how my parents accepted a family completely unknown to us into our house.

They were from Ilovaisk, in the Donetsk region. Their son Artem was the same age as me and we went to the same kindergarten and then to the same class at school. Two years later, Artem and his family left for Kyiv. Our communication was interrupted due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

It was supposed to be a normal Thursday, but everything changed in one day. In the morning our parents woke us up, but not as cheerfully as usual. I knew right away that something bad had happened. My older brother Alex at that time was in Toronto finishing his studies at George Brown College.  This is probably why my parents decided that our family should go to Canada so we could be together.

Parents were very upset, but they tried not to show their anxiety to my younger sister and me. Then they told me that the war had begun. I did not know what it was and how the war could start here in Ukraine.

Another reality had begun. Adults in Ukraine have installed a special application on their phones that reports air raid alerts. Parents strengthened and sealed the windows with thick paper for blackout, collected sand in bags to strengthen the windows. Dad talked about security measures and what we all needed to do during an air raid. At the signal, we would all urgently go down to the basement and wait for the end of the alarm. We heard the loud sounds of war. It was very scary. It was especially scary when one of the adults, dad or grandfather, left the house.

But when the explosions got closer and we heard them more often, dad decided that we needed to leave home. I did not understand what was happening and could not even imagine then that this was the beginning of our journey to Canada …

Our long journey began.

We took only the most necessary things, and in the evening we went to the border of Ukraine with Moldova. The distance to the border is less than 100 km, but it took more than 12 hours to get there. We drove by car, my mother often cried. Lena, my three year old sister, behaved very patiently, as if she understood the complexity of the situation. We didn’t sleep all night because there was a very long line at the border.

And it was from that night that miracles began to happen to us. We crossed the border and this first was a miracle, but the biggest miracle is that on our way we met caring, kind, caring and bright people.

On the dark Odessa-Chisinau road, a bright tent caught our attention. Here we were given hot tea to drink and fed with national pies that are made with cheese.  A place to stop was suggested, as we were all very tired. Our first night of nomadic life was on March 1st in the fabulous castle of the Purcari which is now a wine factory. They accepted, accommodated and fed the Ukrainians who were fleeing the country.

Then we continued our way through Moldova. On the road, our parents called up acquaintances, friends and relatives. It turned out that some of our friends had also left Odessa for Moldova. They were not far from us and they needed help.  We joined them and spent the night in the city of Orhei. We stopped in a house in the middle of a snowy forest, and in the morning we continued on our way.  Our third day was spent on the road and crossing the Moldova-Romania border.

The following morning we arrived in the town of Targu Neamts in Romania, where we were placed in the Ozana hotel by its incredibly kind Romanian owner, who immediately said that since we were from Ukraine, accommodation would be free. Mom again carried the sleeping Lena wrapped in a blanket. It was night outside, snow and frost. Here we were able to feel a little safe and stop for a while so that our parents could think over the route.

We were all very scared. Our grandparents remain at home as they refused to leave. We are very worried about them and do not know when we will be able to see them again … I miss everyone.

We lived in this hotel for 5 days. Meanwhile, dad and our friends went to the border with Ukraine and met another family with children from Ukraine. So our company had grown to 5 adults and 5 children. We lived together for the next 1.5 months.

My parents said that we could not go further into Europe yet because my sister and I didn’t have passports. To get them, we needed to move to the capital of Romania – Bucharest.

On the evening of March 9th we got on the road at 7 pm and by the morning we arrived at the embassy. There were a lot of people there.  We signed up for a queue, and it became clear that, at best, we would get an appointment the following day, so our parents began to look for housing. And here another miracle happened to us: we met an incredible person named Emmanuel, who gave us his three-room apartment with everything we needed for free. We began to settle down and get used to the new way of life. Here I started classes in the Ukrainian online school, and continued with Dance classes and additional English lessons.

My mother teaches at the State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Odessa, so she continued to work online and give lectures. We were all in the same room and our Lena helps us. It was fun and challenging at the same time.

On March 17th, we learned about the opening of a program to help Ukrainians in Canada (Miracle!). Papa took up the paperwork and the following day he submitted an application, and on March 23-24 there was a trip to Serbia to submit biometric data (fingerprints) for a visa. A week later, we returned our passports in Bucharest and our visas were received.

But we couldn’t fly yet. We needed time to prepare for our move. My parents decided that I should finish my school year online in Romania so that I wouldn’t have to study at night due to the big time difference between Canada and Romania. In the meantime, spring arrived in Bucharest and our parents tried to show us the sights of the city. On weekends, we went to museums, parks and visited the zoo whenever possible.

On April 21st, another miracle happened – we moved to a new apartment with just our family and once again the generosity of someone provided our accommodation at no cost.  Meanwhile, a volunteer translator at the embassy helped in many ways, while Lena and I celebrated our first birthdays away from home.  It was a miracle that on her 4th birthday our new Romanian friends gave Lena toys of a prince and a princess.  Why this is a miracle I will explain later.

Before arriving here, we knew little about Romania but now we have learned that it is a very         hospitable and beautiful country with kind and open people.  We prepared to leave and purchased tickets to Toronto.  On the way to the airport and at the airport itself, we met wonderful people who helped us with everything we needed.  When our bank card did not work for us at the reception, a girl we had just met 30 minutes earlier paid for us.

The flight was long, but we arrived in Canada, where my most cherished dream came true, we were able to see my brother.

We were met at the airport by Kate Segriff who kindly took us home and accommodated us for two nights until our new host family could receive us. Our parents had met her through the Internet when they were looking for housing. Although at that time she was already hosting a Ukrainian family from the Dnipro, she did not pass by our appeal but passed it along to others who offered to help.

Remember I wrote above about the donated prince and princess dolls? We live with a wonderful family on Prince Street, and we walk along Princess Street most evenings.

We were received by a kind and decent Canadian family who not only provided us with assistance in living in the first days in Canada, but also warmed us with their human warmth. Family photographs of this family show good traditions that have been maintained by many generations. For me and my sister, they immediately organized a lot of games and bought a lot of books – they said that we could feel at home. We were shown a room where there were a lot of toys and games, where my sister and I spend a lot of time.

They help parents with paperwork. They showed us the city and its environs, took us to Peterborough, showed us the New Canadians Center, where they told us how we can quickly go through socialization, learn the language, which school we can go to study, which circles to attend, and find a first job for our parents.

By Elizabeth Pedko, 13 years

Editor’s note:  Last week, the Pedko family made what they hope will be the final leg of their Canadian journey when they were driven to Sault Saint Marie by another kind stranger in a truck donated for the trip.  Facing the loss of their home, their professional careers and their parents/grandparents who remain in the Ukraine, they plan to rebuild a new life and hope the move to Canada is a permanent one.   

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