Homeland

I am Ukrainian. At the beginning of February 2022, I completed all my documents and was ready to travel to Canada to join my husband. He had already been working there for almost a year and was eagerly waiting for me to come. I was heartbroken to leave my country Ukraine for Canada but at the same time I felt happy by the thought of reuniting with my husband who was already in Canada.

When I packed my things, I only took two sets of warm clothes. I wore one of them on the way because I knew that in the place where my husband worked, the weather was very cold. I also brought gifts for him and for his new friends — things that could not be found in Canada but might be interesting for the locals. I did not take many belongings because I thought my visit would be short. My visa was valid for only six months, and I was planning to return to Ukraine in the summer.

But I could never have imagined that this journey would last more than three and a half years. I arrived in Canada on February 5, 2022, and only nineteen days later the world was shaken by the news: on February 24, Russia attacked Ukraine. The war had begun.

Most Ukrainians could not believe that our neighboring country, with whom we had always maintained friendly relations, could act this way toward us. It felt like living on a street where all the neighbors used to be kind to one another, visiting and sharing, until one day someone decided that your house looked better than their own and simply chose to live in it. And suddenly, you had no home left. Why do some people think they can take away the happiness of others in order to make themselves happy? It is impossible to understand. In Ukraine we have a saying: “You cannot build happiness on someone else’s grief.”

Now, three and a half years later, I am still in Canada. My child was born here, and soon I will welcome another one. I cannot return to my homeland with my children because I fear for their safety. Yet, more than anything, I dream of introducing them to my very elderly grandmother. Russia has taken away from us the possibility of being close to our families and living in our own homes, which so many Ukrainians have lost.

But Canada opened its doors and gave protection to thousands of Ukrainians, helping them to save their lives and the lives of their children. What I thought would be a “short visit” to kind-hearted Canada became my shelter and my home.

We hope that this war will end as soon as possible, but in the meantime, we are deeply grateful to Canada and to all the countries that reached out their helping hands to Ukrainians.