When Margarita Oganova woke up to the roar of military planes over them, she went to her children’s bedrooms to tell them that the war had begun.
Confused when she woke up, her 15-year-old son Arkady thought it was a cruel joke.
“We thought she was just trying to wake us up for school, but it was real,” Arkady said, recalling how he and his sister, Karina, 13, made their beds and had breakfast in stunned silence on the morning of February 24th.
“It was the sirens at the time, it was really scary for us,” he said. “We didn’t know what to do.”
This would be the last time he slept in his own bed. He was about to pack a small suitcase when the first Russian air strikes landed on Ukraine.
The family lived in Kremenchuk, a town about five kilometers from an oil refinery that was later destroyed.
Margarita Oganova (fourth from left) with the children and her aunt and grandmother, both of whom remain in Ukraine. (Anna Kushko / Facebook)
Oganova and her children moved through the city that morning to her sister Anna Kushko’s house. In the days before fleeing to Poland on March 7, the whole family spent hours underground, in basement rooms fortified with sandbags.
We as a nation were very scared, “Oganova said. “There were sirens many times in Kremenchuk.”
Now the sisters are waiting for the war in Jasper, Alta.
They are among the first of more than 50 Ukrainians expected to arrive in the mountain town as local families open their homes and businesses to refugees.
Ukraine is in our hearts. When the war stops, we will return. – Anna Kushko
In Ukraine, Oganova has worked as a fitness trainer; Kushko was a sales manager.
The sisters now work together at the Jasper Inn and wash dishes at a local restaurant in the evenings.
The three children stay in Slave Lake, Altai, with relatives so that the women can work longer and send money back to the family they left behind, including Anna’s husband.
The sisters are grateful for the work, but long for home.
“Jasper is a very beautiful city, with many beautiful mountains, but Ukraine is in our hearts,” Kushko said.
“When the war stops, we will return.”
Margarita Oganova (left) and Anna Kushko (with sunglasses) and their children in happier times. (Anna Kushko / Facebook)
More than 10 million Ukrainians – a quarter of the country’s population – have been driven from their homes, including more than 4.7 million Ukrainians who fled the country since the Russian invasion began in February.
It is hoped that some refugees will find safe refuge in the Canadian Rockies.
Nancy Addison, a retired Jasper teacher, organized the relief effort. She spends hours talking to Ukrainians abroad, helping them find their way around.
“Everything is torn off”
Addison relies on social media to get in touch with refugees. She then posted detailed Facebook profiles in an attempt to match them with jobs and accommodation.
To date, about 20 families – in Jasper, and in Wallmount and the Robson Valley on the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia – have offered to give Ukrainians a free place to call home for a year.
Many others help coordinate vehicles, clothing and flights for newcomers.
Addison also helps mediate dozens of job offers for refugees.
In total, more than 60 refugees have been offered accommodation. Eight have already arrived and are settling in, she said.
“Their lives were so normal two months ago, you know, and everything was torn from them,” she said. “It’s just heartbreaking because it’s so connected and so random and so reckless and useless.
“We want to help them save enough money so that one day we hope they can come back and recover everything they lost.”
Addison said the need was huge. She hopes more Albert residents will open their refugee homes.
“It makes me think every day that their situation is so difficult and it’s pretty easy to fix,” said Addison, who plans to adopt a family of four and pet Shi Tzu, who is currently in Poland.
“We just have to open our homes and welcome them.”
Ina Borodulina (lower center) and her friend Valery (upper center) arrived in Alberta last week. They found a new home in Weilmount, British Columbia, with Taggart Wilson (left) and Swansea Pleister (right). (Submitted by Swantje Pleister)
At a small farm near Wallmount, British Columbia, 120 kilometers west of Jasper, Ina Borodulina and her friend Valery had just arrived. They will stay with Taggart Wilson and Swantje Pleister.
Pleister said they feel compelled to help.
Her partner has Ukrainian roots and she knows how difficult it can be to adjust to life in a new country. She emigrated from Germany about 10 years ago.
“We wondered how we could help and help in a meaningful way,” she said. “It simply came to our notice then.
She picked up her new guests from Calgary Airport on April 10th.
“So grateful”
Borodulina, 27, said she and her boyfriend left Ukraine months before the war to work in Poland.
Borodulina said she felt guilty for fleeing the terror of the war and was constantly worried about her family in Ukraine.
She is not sure if she will ever return to Ukraine. She said she and her partner want to build a life in Canada and find a good job so they can send money home to help relatives recover.
Borodulina said she is settling into their new home, cooking her new friends her favorite traditional dishes, borsch and stewed cabbage.
“I feel like we’ve met before because we’re so close,” she said.
“We are so grateful.”
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