HELP UNITE BALBINA WITH HER UKRAINIAN FAMILY

SHORT STORY SHORT - COLES NOTES VERSION:

(For people who don’t have time to stop to look at they eyes of a shadfly.)

 

We have a friend. She is so nice and oozes good. She has changed our lives for the better. Now, we want to do the same for her. Her sister's family of 6 (incl. dog) has fled the Ukraine. Now, we want to reunite them safely here in Canada. We could use your help to:

 

- pay for their flights to Canada

- cover their accomodations until resettlement

- food to nurture their body's and souls

- clothes to remind them there is true warmth out there

- personal items for the 3 children under the age of 12

- any special costs for Marty their Jack Russell (vaccination shots, passport, quarantining if necessary)

- miscellaneous and unexpected costs that may arise (medical, transportation, job search, ESL classes, etc…)

 

If you want to hear the real human experience read on...

 

If you have been so lucky, we all have a friend who has altered the make up of who we are (for the good) by their everlasting impression they have made upon us. It does not need to take years or decades of time spent together but simple moments of organic conversations about such things like moss, mushrooms and shadflies… yep shad flies… This is how we create real connections.

 

For me and for so many others that person is Balbina Rosabal. A global citizen who was born in Luhansk, raised in Antratsit (Ukraine) and Cuba, and immigrated to Canada at the age of 18, and who has since spent most of her time appreciating our Canadian growth forests and who is particularly fond of the trails at Nipissing University/Canadore College.

 

A graduate of both programs Biology and Nursing. She embodies a life of nurturing others as well as the ground we walk on literally…. Mother Nature is her peep, her soul mate.

 

One day upon her leaving to go study Nursing in Toronto she said to us “You know what I am going to miss the most?….. shadfly's!”

 

For those of you who do not know what a shadfly is… The general consensus is that these insects smell and are bothersome. People are annoyed when they are here and therefore they decrease the value of their own lives by complaining about the shadfly's presence.

 

Balbina surprised by the reaction on our face; softly asked us.

“Have you ever stopped to look at the eyes of a shadfly?”

 

In the eyes of Balbina, these beautiful creatures (the winged form shadfly) are the communicators of our lake; the more, the merrier, the healthier our water is. They live an average of 24 hours and they mirror to us the reflection and importance of living our best selves in the time we have. They add value to our lives by being an example; if we choose to STOP, look and appreciate all that is around us.

 

For Balbina’s family in the Ukraine, those 24 hours starting on February 24, 2022 changed the trajectory of their lives and each 24 hour period after that is still uncertain.

 

For the 24 hours on February 23, 2022 - Balbina's sister Masha, her husband and their 3 girls ages 11, 7 and 2 were sitting in their living room accompanied by Marty their Jack Russell. It was just a regular Wednesday.

 

For the 24 hours on February 24, 2022 - Russian tanks started rolling into their city of Kharkiv; shooting and shelling their neighborhood streets.

 

For the next 7 consecutive 24 hour periods from February 24 - March 2, 2022

- All 6 of them slept in between the weight bearing walls of the apartment hallway for safety

 

March 2, 2022, frightened to move they left as the danger became more imminent and unavoidable. Taking a 25 minute taxi ride (the cab drivers knew of the latest safest routes) they arrived at the train station.

 

For Balbina, the hardest 24 hours was waiting for her sister's family to board the train, as they sat at the train station, an open target and wondered if they would even get on the train. The family could board; but nothing else, it was Human Life over Luggage. Any part of their valuables was left on the platform.

 

The train ride from Kharkiv to Lviv was a consecutive 24 hr period in complete darkness as to not be seen and targeted by Russian military in the night. Traveling from the Eastern border of Ukraine to just 2 hours away from the Polish border.

 

Imagine the last thing you saw before lights out was the very little bit you brought of your most precious memories being left behind. Your history lay flat on the train platform.

 

Currently, Masha and her family are safe waiting in Vienna, Austria for the first opportunity come to Canada to be with her sister.

 

As a natural nurturer, Balbina and her husband will be able to comfort her sister's family by providing all the love and caring they will need to lift themselves up at a time of great loss.

 

Caregiving requires stamina, love and nurturing; all qualities that Balbina possesses. But supporting an added family of 6 (including Marty the Jack Russell) while still paying off student debts can be extra daunting.

 

Can we stop in the next 24 hours and help make their next 48+ hours more comfortable for this family and so on, so on... please join in and help raise funds to reunite Balbina and her sister's family.

 

Please check out @kickitwithkindness on Instagram for one of fun the ways Balbina's friends are coming together to raise money and awareness for those affected by the situation in Ukraine.

 

 

 

Left to Right

 

 

 

 

Marty the Jack Russell being extra loved by Mira

 

 

 

Balbina and her love for nature.