$1,630 raised
·15 donations
Olesia Pupina's life starting from scratch
Donation protected
Hello. I am raising funds for Olesia Pupina, my prospective graduate student who wishes to come to study at Illinois State University in January 2023. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Below is Olesia's story:
Once, the moment when the war broke out in Georgia in 2008, I had a nightmare that my family and I were going out with bags along the empty roads in my Ukrainian hometown. There was not a single inhabitant, and there was no glass in the windows in the houses and the wind was blowing the curtains… I never had prophetic dreams. Initially, I could never believe that I would be a refugee, this word always scared me very much.
From the age of 7, I began to study music, which I practiced very hard. As a result, I became a pianist and a laureate of international competitions in Ukraine.
However, the war changed the fate of Ukrainians, military events accelerate the process of aging and unexpected deaths. As it turned out, my family was no exception. We were already lost two places of residence in Ukraine. The first time was 8 years ago, in the Donezk region, where I was born. Then this year in March in Kharkiv, where I studied and later worked at the University of Arts. On top of all the trials and changes, in July we lost our grandmother, who stayed in Slovyansk (a hot military point in the Donetsk region) and, like all elderly people, refused to leave her house. Sad to realize that many of my teachers and colleagues have also passed away. Our university has been destroyed in many places.
We miraculously managed to flee to Sweden with one backpack with my husband - a composer, and a teacher at the same university. We are grateful to fate that we were given temporary shelter here. The immigration office transferred us three times. Now we also live in temporary housing. Fortunately, miracles do happen, and often help comes from complete strangers.
But being safe, we cannot feel calm, because our relatives, like many Ukrainians, remained in their homeland under the bombs. The events associated with the war each time make their own adjustments. At the beginning of the war, each of my family was in a different city. On top of everything else, my dad is disabled and could not move independently with leg fractures. That is why I was forced to return and help my parents get out of dangerous areas of the east of Ukraine. We had a lot to overcome.
As experience shows, many people have changed values and guidelines in their life. We are still without a home, but now we understand how not to be attached to the materials.
However, against the background of all these events, I managed to take exams and got accepted to Illinois State University to study in the Master's program in Collaborative Piano. However, due to the long process of obtaining my visa, I did not get to study for the fall semester this year. Having lost almost everything more than once, I understand that it is possible to reacquire, but this takes some time. I am hoping, with the GoFundMe account (set up by my future professor at Illinois State), I can use the money from donation to purchase air ticket and pay for my living expenses while studying at Illinois State, beginning in January 2023.
Donations
Organizer and beneficiary
Tuyen Tonnu
Organizer
Bloomington, IL
Olesia Pupina
Beneficiary