Homeland

A couple of months ago, I had met with my Ukrainian friend Nadya, and we had a conversation about our homeland, war and we felt somewhat guilty because we are in Canada now and we are safe and we did nothing to help our native country in this difficult time. Our hearts were bleeding. So, we decided to do something.

Two weeks ago we with a huge support from the owner of the Hair Studio where I’m working conducted two days fundraising to support Ukrainian children who lost one or two parents in the war which is going on in Ukraine now. We offered mini manicure, mini pedicure for everyone and braids for little princesses only for $10. We posted our event on Facebook, created posters and put it on the windows and on the walls in the Hair Studio, in a Church and a local mall. That was all advertising. In the beginning we were worried that nobody will come to support us and we will lucky if we will get $300-400, but we were wrong.

Anyways, our first fundraising day began. We wore black pants, white shirts and created Ukrainian hairstyles. We decorated the salon with yellow and blue balloons and ribbons, created the fundraising box, covered a table with Canadian and Ukrainian flags, cooked some Ukrainian cookies and turned on Ukrainian music. And more and more people started to come in. Everybody tried our food, asked us about Ukrainian culture. Some of them even danced and asked me to show Ukrainian national dance. We offered everyone who gave donation into our box to sign Canadian flag with their wished to Ukraine. The atmosphere was incredible and we became very busy.

The second day of our event brought us a very big surprise. A Canadian woman walked along the street and saw Ukrainian national colours. She stopped by to ask what is going on here and when we explained to her our event, she said that she has a daughter Maggie who was adopted from Ukraine and her Ukrainian name is Olena, same like me! After a few minutes later Maggie was at the salon with us. I did Ukrainian braids for her, Nadya presented Ukrainian band and we did a lot of pictures and Maggie put her Canadian and Ukrainian names on the flag and signed: “ Adopted from Ukraine”. Everyone who was at the salon at this moment cried. That was an unforgettable emotion.

At the end of our two fundraising days with the owner of the salon and her husband like witnesses Nadya and I opened the money box and we got another big surprise. We raised $996! We couldn’t believe our eyes. We counted the money again and again. That was a huge success for us in our little community. We couldn’t hold back our tears of happiness. We realized that now we can help not only one Ukrainian child as we had expected in the beginning, but many more.

On our way home, Nadya and I were so tired after two very busy days, but we were happy and sad at the same time because all was over. And we decided that it was only the beginning!

P.S
We sent the flag and all the money to Ukraine and posted our report on Facebook. Association of Conscious Activists based in Kryvyi Rig Ukraine is gathering information about the most needy children in this region and will report to us by October 20th.