Winnipegger evacuated from eastern Ukraine overwhelmed by grief, thankful for support
'This is my home. This is my community,' Andrea Shalay says of Zaporizhzhia
A Winnipegger's three-year commitment in Ukraine has been temporarily suspended six months into her stay due to the growing conflict with Russia in the eastern European nation.
Until earlier this month, Andrea Shalay was working in Zaporizhzhia, an industrial city in southeastern Ukraine, as the peace engagement co-ordinator for Europe with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
On Feb. 13, the organization got her and her three American colleagues out of Ukraine, sending them to an undisclosed location due to concerns about a coming conflict, which erupted Thursday as Russia invaded.
In a Zoom interview Friday morning, Shalay said it was hard to leave Zaporizhzhia, which is about 300 kilometres from the Russian border.
"This is my home. This is my community. These are my friends, these are my colleagues," she said.
"And to be in a situation where suddenly all that has been ripped apart has definitely been very difficult."
The MCC has worked in Ukraine since the 1920s, collaborating with local partners in response to fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed part of the region.
The charitable relief organization had 11 employees based in Zaporizhzhia, but one other international employee left before Shalay and the three Americans, leaving six Ukrainian staff members still in the city.
Shalay has regularly been in touch with MCC staff still in Zaporizhzhia, and says the focus is on providing whatever support possible to them.
"For myself, there's definitely been a lot of overwhelm and I think grief about everything that is going on," she said. "And just knowing that our national staff, our Ukrainian staff are still there ... there's a lot of worry as well."
Support from Manitobans
Since Russian troops started to invade Ukraine by land, air and sea early Thursday morning local time, Shalay has also been in touch with friends and other community connections.
She thinks the catastrophe of what is unfolding in the country her great-grandparents emigrated from more than 100 years ago is much worse than Ukrainians expected.
"There's definitely a fear at this point. I think there's also a lot of sadness.… The sense I get from a lot of the Ukrainians I talked to is they just really want to be left to live in peace and freedom," Shalay said.
She said she's encouraged by "stories of resiliency and solidarity" that she's heard.
"Many of the Ukrainians that I know just make the best of difficult situations, and even just wanting to help one another, even in these difficult times."
Those are the stories that provide a bit of a light for her in this time of uncertainty, she said.
She's also thankful for the community support in Ukraine and other parts of the world, including her home province.
"The messages we've been getting about prayers and concern is one of the things that I'm kind of glad [to have] coming from Manitoba ... because there's such a large Canadian Ukrainian population there," Shalay said.
"I think in these times, I really feel ... that love coming from Canada."
MCC planning to deliver long-term aid
The MCC head office in Winnipeg is monitoring the situation in Ukraine closely, says its director of marketing and communications.
"We know that when people are in violent and conflict situations, when they're displaced, that creates a lot of trauma for people, especially children and other vulnerable populations," said Laura Kalmar.
Although no one knows how long the conflict will last in Ukraine, the MCC is already making plans to offer long-term assistance to Ukrainians once it ends and is accepting donations through its website, she said.
MCC hopes to distribute food baskets and relief kits in Zaporizhzhia, while also seeking out locally sourced items like blankets. The organization also plans to work with its partners to provide temporary emergency housing for displaced residents.
"It affects everyday people. It affects their lives and creates insecurity for themselves, their families," Kalmar said. "We're committed to continuing to serve alongside people of Ukraine and help where we can."
She also notes MCC is working with the Canadian government and local sponsorship groups on the possibility of bringing Ukrainian refugees to Canada, including Manitoba, through the private sponsorship of refugees program.
In 2020, a total of 530 Ukrainians were sponsored through MCC's program, but only 118 made their way to Canada due to the pandemic and other backlogs, Kalmar said.
She estimates sponsorship numbers for 2021 were similar, with those who arrived in Canada up slightly from the 118 in 2020.
With files from Bryce Hoye