Who is the refugee?

Editor’s note: On Saturday, February 4, JDS parent Anastasiia Zavodnyk, was invited to be a guest speaker at Refugee Shabbat at Temple Beth El. Here are her remarks.

guage that my kids have – only because of you. It is very important because we have the ability to reconnect with their roots, which I hadn’t in my childhood. Your help and support made us confident in our presence here, in the US!

guage that my kids have – only because of you. It is very important because we have the ability to reconnect with their roots, which I hadn’t in my childhood. Your help and support made us confident in our presence here, in the US!

So, who is the refugee? It’s me. I can’t speak for everyone, only for myself and my family. But let my story be something that can show the general picture. The beginning of 2022 It was a happy time for me. I had a beautiful house near Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. I had a garden full of fruit trees and berry bushes. I had great plans – I was opening my own cafe and bakery store, I was setting up a big greenhouse to plant many vegetables there. My children went to great preschool and afterschool smart classes. My daughter started to go to ballroom classes at the best dance school in the area. My husband had a very important role with great career opportunities in the biggest energy company in Ukraine. We used to invite our friends to our little parties at home, used to see our parents when we wanted to. It was really a very great period of life; I was truly happy.

evening we needed to shut all lights, because our territorial defense was looking for hiding russian soldiers. I realized that I couldn’t stand any more. I couldn’t pretend as nothing serious was happening and it was safe enough for kids. The worse for me was to let then feel fear, to feel war. It’s not what children should feel, not until they are enough old to understand everything and not be hurt by it. I want my children to be happy, to be confident and have strong and healthy mental health. So, I asked my husband to leave our home.

We left on 7th of March and on 8th of March russians* came to our house. They occupied all village, killed men, raped women, stole a lot of things, ruin our houses… it lasted 4 weeks. So, it was nothing like occupation during WW2… it was worse, much worse. And it is still.

evening we needed to shut all lights, because our territorial defense was looking for hiding russian soldiers. I realized that I couldn’t stand any more. I couldn’t pretend as nothing serious was happening and it was safe enough for kids. The worse for me was to let then feel fear, to feel war. It’s not what children should feel, not until they are enough old to understand everything and not be hurt by it. I want my children to be happy, to be confident and have strong and healthy mental health. So, I asked my husband to leave our home.

So, what is the difference between me as a refugee and other people who came here as immigrants? Reasons why we came. I love Ukraine, it’s my home, home of my children and many past generations of my and my husband’s family. We miss our home a lot. And before February 2022 we never thought about emigrating abroad, we simply didn’t want to, because we were satisfied with our lives and happy in Ukraine. We chose the US because it was the best option of all, but also the most difficult. It was hard, and it is hard. Not only because of usual immigrant’s difficulties such as different language, different culture, finding job, getting all local documents, impossible life without a car, almost impossible life without a credit score, but the real difficulty is not being allowed to go out of the US. Maybe for people, who decide to come here, who has it like big goal, who choose to live here and can stand everything to make this “American dream” came true, but it is very hard for us, refugees, forced migrants, who’s heart is still at our home with our friends, neighbors, parents, houses and gardens. And only your help made our life here more like at home (through relations, conversations, care and support). Because at the end of the day most important things are not material things, they will never ever fill your heart and soul with love, kindness and happiness.

So, what is the difference between me as a refugee and other people who came here as immigrants? Reasons why we came. I love Ukraine, it’s my home, home of my children and many past generations of my and my husband’s family. We miss our home a lot. And before February 2022 we never thought about emigrating abroad, we simply didn’t want to, because we were satisfied with our lives and happy in Ukraine. We chose the US because it was the best option of all, but also the most difficult. It was hard, and it is hard. Not only because of usual immigrant’s difficulties such as different language, different culture, finding job, getting all local documents, impossible life without a car, almost impossible life without a credit score, but the real difficulty is not being allowed to go out of the US. Maybe for people, who decide to come here, who has it like big goal, who choose to live here and can stand everything to make this “American dream” came true, but it is very hard for us, refugees, forced migrants, who’s heart is still at our home with our friends, neighbors, parents, houses and gardens. And only your help made our life here more like at home (through relations, conversations, care and support). Because at the end of the day most important things are not material things, they will never ever fill your heart and soul with love, kindness and happiness.

Now we are here. And we are very lucky, because we met people with very big open hearts full of love and kindness, people who helped us with so many things. People from Jewish Day School, Jewish Community of Lehigh Valley, Jewish Community Center. Not enough words to describe how grateful we are for it. And this great opportunity to know Jewish traditions and lan-

We left on 7th of March and on 8th of March russians* came to our house. They occupied all village, killed men, raped women, stole a lot of things, ruin our houses… it lasted 4 weeks. So, it was nothing like occupation during WW2… it was worse, much worse. And it is still.

Now we are here. And we are very lucky, because we met people with very big open hearts full of love and kindness, people who helped us with so many things. People from Jewish Day School, Jewish Community of Lehigh Valley, Jewish Community Center. Not enough words to describe how grateful we are for it. And this great opportunity to know Jewish traditions and lan-

And then, on 24th of February, all was ruined. The war started. And what did we know about war? Only history WW2 from books and movies…and some horrible stories from our grandparents. We decided to stay, because it was our home. We thought that our village was now a target for the enemy and even if they would come. We heard stories from our grandparents who remembered a time when their homes were under occupation during WW2 so we kind of could guess how it could be in our case. But we were wrong, very very wrong. Because in village aren’t many people – it’s difficult to feel panic. We heard sounds of missile strikes, the house was shaking every time, but personally I really felt it on the second week, end of February. I needed to take my youngest daughter to doctor. So, we were going by car there. It wasn’t far but we needed to go through a checkpoint which was created as a part of country protection actions. There I saw real soldiers, guns, bullets laying on the ground, tanks for the first time in my life. And it wasn’t museum exhibition, it was real life situation. But worst was that something just fly above my head and then I heard and felt shot near me. It was enemy drone. It scared me to death, I never ever felt like this before. Next weeks were very scary for me. The enemy soldiers were closer closer to our village. At evening we needed to shut all lights, because ritorial defense was looking for hiding russian realized that I couldn’t stand any more. I couldn’t tend as nothing serious was happening and it enough for kids. The worse for me was to let fear, to feel war. It’s not what children should until they are enough old to understand everything not be hurt by it. I want my children to be happy, confident and have strong and healthy mental So, I asked my husband to leave home.

So, I want to say a big, huge thank you one more time to all of you! I am grateful for the ability to be here today, in a safe, beautiful and ambitious place, the US. I’m grateful to all of you, for listening to my story, for supporting my family and Ukraine. I believe that war will end soon, that I can finally see my home and hug all my friends and neighbors. But I, as all Ukrainians, still stay in that fatal February, in pre-war days, when we were on our land, in our home; happy, confident in the coming days, full of ambitious plans.

So, I want to say a big, huge thank you one more time to all of you! I am grateful for the ability to be here today, in a safe, beautiful and ambitious place, the US. I’m grateful to all of you, for listening to my story, for supporting my family and Ukraine. I believe that war will end soon, that I can finally see my home and hug all my friends and neighbors. But I, as all Ukrainians, still stay in that fatal February, in pre-war days, when we were on our land, in our home; happy, confident in the coming days, full of ambitious plans.

We left on 7th of March and on 8th of March sians* came to our house. They occupied all killed men, raped women, stole a lot of things, houses… it lasted 4 weeks. So, it was nothing pation during WW2… it was worse, much worse. it is still.

*I use little letter instead of capital on purpose. I don’t respect this people anymore and it’s even hard for me to call them people, because what they have done and are still doing doesn’t look like they are humans at all to me. And because it is my story, I want to highlight it as my relation to them.

*I use little letter instead of capital on purpose. I don’t respect this people anymore and it’s even hard for me to call them people, because what they have done and are still doing doesn’t look like they are humans at all to me. And because it is my story, I want to highlight it as my relation to them.

Now we are here. And we are very lucky, because met people with very big open hearts full of kindness, people who helped us with so many People from Jewish Day School, Jewish Community Lehigh Valley, Jewish Community Center. Not words to describe how grateful we are for it. great opportunity to know Jewish traditions