Help start a new life - Refugee from Ukraine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxwJT_iAjcA Dear friends,

 

When the war between Russia and Ukraine started, I felt as if the world stopped and everything lost sense.. It’s really hard for me to understand the need for this unbearable cruelty and suffering created by the Russian government. It’s hard to follow the news without feeling angry, sad, and disturbed. The war started to affect everyone, with almost 5 million people displaced from their homes...

 

One of the things we can really do is to help people that were directly affected by the war.

The purpose of this fundraiser is to help a Ukrainian family, which whom I got acquainted, and with whom some of you already met. We want to help them get back on their feet while they have to stay here in LA.

The family is from Kharkiv, but they cannot go back there in the foreseeable future, because the city is still under heavy bombardment.

 

Not long ago, Kharkiv was a thriving metropolis and the second-largest city in Ukraine with sprawling parks, botanical gardens, restaurants, pubs, and opera. Now, three weeks into Russia's military invasion of Ukraine over 600 buildings in the city have been destroyed, They include schools, nurseries, and hospitals, and until now are constantly shelling the city from the ground and the air.

According to the United Nations, at least 726 civilians have been killed there since Feb. 24 though U.N. officials caution that the actual death toll is likely to be much higher.

 

Larisa Deineko is originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine - she is a successful businesswoman, that owns and runs 3 businesses - goods delivery and 2 restaurants. She had to leave her house within 30 min when the bombing started. Whatever she was able to grab at that time, that’s all she has now. Larissa came to Los Angeles to reunite with her son Nikita who is a senior at the New York film academy here in Los Angeles and finishing his last semester this summer.

Larisa was able to travel through the whole country in 17 days and cross the border. Right now she is staying with her son here. But their support system is gone. Her business in Ukraine is not generating income and their two restaurants are used as shelters for people who lost their homes and stay together to support each other.

I don’t know what it feels like when you hear a bomb explosion by your house, you don’t know what it feels like to see your neighbor getting killed just walking home, or what it feels like to see your city destroyed when killing becomes normal and corps of innocent people are seen on the streets.. Seems like all that you build all your life is gone in a few days. No city, no country, no friends, no job, no business. All is wiped out in one surreal moment.

 

For many people escaping the war, if a person is able to survive and move to another country - they are extremely lucky, even if they have to start over again from scratch, however immeasurably difficult that could be.

 

Larysa needs a place to live - they need to pay their rent, and get transportation, Larisa needs to learn English and get familiar with the culture here, get the necessary immigration papers so she can get a job and start a new journey here.

The American government did not pass a law yet to help Ukrainian refugees. I went to Social Services with them and the only help we could get is the emergency medical coverage. I have a lot of friends that ask me to put up fundraisers so we can help the family to start their life here.

Please contribute as much as you can to support a new beginning.

 

The only way to survive is to help each other in these extreme circumstances.

 

Thank you so much for your support. God bless.

Olena Kuhtaryeva and Siresha Mudunuri

 

P.S. When the family situation settles we will have a Ukrainian borscht party for all of you.