Vacationing Calgary couple offer home to stranded Ukrainian traveller

Calgary travellers Vladimir and Cristina Diordiev were holidaying in Cuba last month when they met Tatiana Kangina, who was scrambling to find a place to live.

Like other Ukrainian nationals, Kangina was filled with sadness and anger the day the war broke out in Ukraine. But because she was halfway around the world on a resort holiday in Varadero, Cuba, she says she also felt completely lost.

The 45-year-old woman found herself stranded, with limited funds, surrounded by strangers and unsure of where to go, because her holiday was ending in just a few days and the airspace over Ukraine was closed to commercial flights.

The Diordievs were staying at the same resort.

"It's a single woman staying there. What's she going to do? What if [the] next day Cuba decides that it's supporting Russia, what's going to happen to her? We said, 'well, let her come to Canada,'" said Vladimir.

The Diordievs, originally from Moldova, which neighbours Ukraine, don't speak Ukrainian, and Kangina speaks limited English. But they managed to find a way to communicate — they all speak Russian.

The Diordievs' life-changing offer was made as the couple and Kangina got to know one another over drinks and dancing at the all-inclusive resort.

Two weeks later, Kangina is now staying in the couple's basement in the southeast community of Lake Sundance, looking for work as a hairdresser.

"I am still in shock that this happened. Every day I look in the morning to them and I cannot believe this happened and is still happening," said Kangina, through a translator. "It's like a dream." 

'Big Hearts'

Vladimir says he never once worried about bringing a stranger home. 

His children are grown and there's plenty of room in their home. And their friendship felt like a kindred connection.

Plus, he remembers the way his family was welcomed into Calgary when they moved here, and he believes this is a chance for them to give back.

"We are people with big hearts who understand that karma comes back," said Vladimir.

But, he says there were a few hiccups along the way, including limited internet in Cuba and the fact that the Diordievs were already back in Calgary by the time the Canadian government opened its borders to Ukrainians fleeing the war.

They went home on March 15 and the announcement came on March 17.

The whole process — visa, biometrics and purchasing a plane ticket for Kangina — took just over a week.

Why Canada

Kangina flew to Cuba on Feb. 17 for a 10-day holiday with a girlfriend. Kangina says the plane was full of other Ukrainians and about 25 of them were staying at the same resort.

She says by the time their holiday was up, most of the other Ukrainian travellers, including her friend, decided to fly back to Europe to either try to make their way to Ukraine, or stay in a nearby country in the hopes that the war would end soon.

Kangina doesn't have any children and she lived in Kyiv where most of her family lives, too.

She decided against returning to Ukraine, or even Europe, after speaking with her friends who had already fled Ukraine. They warned her that it wasn't easy to find work, or a place to sleep, and she'd be better off going somewhere else, if possible.

So Kangina stayed at the resort, her room paid for by the Cuban government, in the hopes that Canada would open its doors soon.

"I always knew that Canada is the best country for me and I took the executive decision to take the risk and wait that they would open the programs," said Kangina.

Forever Grateful

Since arriving this week, Kangina has connected with Calgary Catholic Immigration Services to arrange English classes and job-related workshops such as formatting a resume.

She hopes to find work soon, as a hairdresser, and eventually find a place of her own to live.

"I thank God that God put me in a way to meet these people…I don't know what I could have done without meeting these people. The situation could have been completely different."

Vladimir says he would have done the same for anyone else in trouble.

And in fact he is.

He's working on helping another Ukrainian, whom he met in Cuba, come to Calgary. Vladimir says the man ended up flying to Poland, but is not able to find adequate work or accommodations because of the number of Ukrainains who fled there.

"If not me, who? What are the consequences? Will I be able to live with that for the rest of my life thinking that I didn't do that," said Vladimir.