Help needed for a local Ukrainian refugee Andrew

I met Andrew in December 2022-a Ukrainian contact he had hoped to meet in Sacramento fell through at the last minute and he was stranded at SFO late one night. I had signed up to host Ukrainian refugees through a worldwide site https://icanhelp.host/ and Andrew contacted me through that site. Thank you all in advance for taking the time to read Andrew's story and donating if you can.

Thanks!

John Newton

Here's Andrew's story:

Hi my name is Andrew. I am a 21 year old gay Ukrainian student from the Donetz region in Ukraine.

I grew up living with my mother, father and younger sister in Horlivka in the Donetsk region in Eastern Ukraine. In 2014 Russia invaded this region and destroyed our family home so we fled to Chernigiv (Northern Ukraine) near Belorussia. In 2019 we moved to the Kharkiv region and I started studying civil engineering at the university in Kharkiv.

In February 2022 Russia attacked Ukraine and occupied a significant portion of the Kharkiv region including the village where my family lived. As a gay man, I was especially afraid of being hurt or killed by Russian troops who are known to be especially intolerant of LGBTQ people. The Russians did attack, torture and kill a number of LGBTQ people in occupied parts of Ukraine.

I managed to hide from the occupying Russian troops but they did shoot my dog and they blew up my parents’ house in September 2022. Being in the occupied territory of Ukraine, the only direction I could escape was into Russia. I managed to convince Russian authorities that I was visiting a relative in Moscow, so I was able to enter Russia and then quickly moved through Belarus and eventually reached Ireland. I stayed in Ireland until I could make enough money to fly to Mexico with the intention of crossing into the United States. I knew that the Bay Area was especially tolerant of LGBTQ people and that there would likely be support groups here. In November 2022, I managed to cross from Mexico into Arizona and I asked the police for asylum. After formally processing me, I was able to fly to San Francisco and found a place to stay in Kensington near Berkeley.

With the help of new friends helping me in the Bay Area, I've had a place to stay for several months and generous neighbors donated clothes and food for me.

The most critical thing I needed to do was to properly file the asylum paperwork with the US government. I realized I needed the help of an immigration lawyer. After trying for months to get assistance from a pro bono lawyer, I realized this wasn't likely going to happen due to the number of people needing help but I did manage to find a gracious and experienced immigration lawyer willing to help me at a reduced fee. I still owe $2,500 to him which will be due in increments over the next several months as my case works its way through the court system. So getting assistance with paying that would be an incredible thing.

Due to the asylum process, I'm unable to legally work until late summer 2023. I currently have housing but do need to pay for food and basic expenses. The housing situation is also temporary so it's likely I'll need to pay for shared housing at some point this year before I'm able to get full-time work.

It feels like a miracle that I managed to escape the Russian occupying army and find myself here. People have been very generous to me and I am very very grateful for this help in my time of need.

Thank You,

Andrew