Alina Redka, who grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, says the Russian invasion of her native country is “like a knife in the heart.”
“This is my land and this is my people, and it is being attacked,” said Redka, a San Rafael resident. “I can’t stop thinking of the trauma, of the terror.”
Now a software engineer, she remembers her childhood as stable and free from much of the turmoil of the aftermath of the Soviet Union breakup. She recalled excursions out in the country, where she helped her parents lay cement for a second home.
“I never thought that now, 30 years from then, my parents would be sheltering in the basement I helped them build,” she said. “I’m so grateful for the house we built. Blood and tears.”
Redka is among a community of Ukrainians residing in Marin County who are intently watching a war raging in their homeland more than 6,000 miles away. Some have embarked on ambitious efforts to organize local action, from prayer to direct aid, for their home country.
Nataliia Karpenko, a resident of Kentfield, said she left Kyiv last week after a visit to see her family as the threat of invasion mounted. Now, they remain stranded in the city of Odessa. She is distressed that her family and loved ones have not been able to evacuate.
”My parents said if Grandpa can’t leave, none of us are going to leave,” she said.
Karpenko begged her parents to evacuate, but they faced two obstacles — her elderly grandfather did not have an international passport and did not have time to compete for one with other refugees.
“Nobody ever believed it would happen,” Karpenko said.
Karpenko said she is proud of Ukrainians who are willing to fight for their country and for freedom, having experienced many years of conflict and threats of losing an independent government to Russia’s control.
“Ukrainian people are more prepared for this. They are incredibly proud for democracy,” she said.
In San Anselmo, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church has become a focal point of the community response.
The Rev. Stephan Meholick was one of 11 Orthodox Church leaders present during a ceremony in Menlo Park this week that gathered Ukrainians, Russians and members of the public in a solemn prayer for peace, he said.
The prayer, which called for “mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, for those who are suffering, wounded, grieving, or displaced because of the war in Ukraine,” encapsulated his views on the topic, he said.
St. Nicholas has about 110 active members, of whom about 20 are ethnic Russians. The rest come from a variety of Eastern European nations, including Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Georgia.
Olga Volkova, who is ethnically half-Ukrainian and half-Russian, is one member of that community hoping for a swift and peaceful resolution.
“They will stand up for their sovereignty and for their independence and their land,” she said. “It’s an absolute tragedy, no matter what kind of race, what kind of color, what kind of nationality. We’re still human beings.”
Volkova, who works for an advertising company and lives in Terra Linda, came to the United States on a basketball scholarship for the University of California, Berkeley.
Her mother was sheltered in a closet when a missile hit her apartment building in Chernihiv on Sunday, she said. The impact shattered the windows and blew out the doors. Her mother is alive and has not left, Volkova said.
“There really is nowhere to go at this point,” she said. “I think we should stay strong and I felt like the world needs to hear it. We all need to know how terrible and how unhuman what’s happening there right now.”
Denys Nevozhai, a Mill Valley resident, has been trying to relocate his parents and his wife’s parents from Kyiv to safety. They are all in their 70s.
“They don’t have a car. They are not modern, they are not tech-savvy,” he said.
Nevozhai, previously a pro-Ukrainian revolutionary from Kyiv who participated in the 2004 Orange Revolution, has been worried about the creep of Russian influence in Ukraine for two decades. He said he was shocked “as everyone was” at the unexpected boldness of Russia’s military incursion.
At first, the parents refused to leave, even as the shootings and the bombings escalated.
“Their house is basically their world,” he said. “This is the only thing they have.”
But in recent days, they’ve become more amenable to moving. On Friday, they were scheduled to cross the border into Poland from Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine.
“It’s more or less safe there right now,” he said.
The U.N.-affiliated International Organization for Migration, citing government ministry data, said about 1.25 million people had left Ukraine as of Friday, according to the Associated Press. The country’s population is about 40 million.
The U.N. said more than 300 people have died since the invasion started.
Olga Panfilova, a dental hygienist who lives in San Rafael, is sending money to her parents who are hiding in their homes near the Dnieper River in central Ukraine. She has been inspired by the resolute, rallying press conferences from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which have gone viral globally.
“We’re all hoping for the miracle. The people there, I would say before they elected the president, they had their doubts. Now everyone is on the same page,” Panfilova said. “I’m really proud, even though we left years ago.”
Redka, like many others, is struggling with how to get money, information and aid directly to relations overseas. She plans to get her parents to the home of her in-laws in Bulgaria when she can provide them with funds.
Karpenko has an online fundraising campaign to help Ukraine with the San Francisco nonprofit Powerful Women International Connections. The campaign aims to provide money for bulletproof vests, helmets and tactical gloves, as well as medical supplies and food for mothers and children who have not been evacuated from Ukraine yet. The fundraising site is at bit.ly/3IOK7Xq.
The Orthodox Church is raising money for victims of the crisis at iocc.org.
Source: www.mercurynews.com