Sponsorship sought for two displaced Ukrainian university students

Tiffany Tillman sends along a request for islanders to sponsor two Ukrainian university students who have been displaced by conflict in their home country. One family on the island graciously agreed to sponsor one of their fellow students from Ukraine last week.

I’m writing to the San Juan Island community to see if we can locate a potential sponsor or sponsors for two Ukrainian college students, Lana and Kate, who have been displaced due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. They will have completed their degrees in Translation Studies at the end of this month (yes, they continued studying through bombing, evacuation and relocation), and are currently located in a temporary living situation in a ‘safer’ area but are in urgent need of relocating to a truly safe place.

I’m trying to connect them to a sponsor or group/organization interested in hosting one or both of them through the U.S. program, Uniting for Ukraine.

I’m an English Language Fellow for the U.S. Department of State, and I’ve been working with my host institution, Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University, since September 2021. This university is located in Sievierodonetsk, a city that has been a hotspot/conflict zone since 2014. I’m still in the process of working with my host institution, but I’m reaching out to you and your team as a private U.S. citizen, looking to help these students in any way we can. I’m on island until I’m sent out on my next project in late August.

Last week, I sent out a similar request through Spring Street International School for one of my former Ukrainian students, Anastasia (Ana). The response from the community was overwhelming, and I’m beyond amazed and grateful to say that Ana has found a kind, generous, and warm Spring Street family who are in the process of hosting her through this program. I mention this because Lana and Kate are friends of Ana’s and in the same cohort at university. It would be wonderful if we could locate a host or hosts for Lana and Kate on island so that they could have the comfort of familiarity in what is otherwise a completely unfamiliar situation.

I’ve asked Lana and Kate to write a bit about themselves and I’ve included their responses below, copied and pasted from our texts.

Lana

My name’s Lana, I’m 21 years old and I’m from Ukraine (Luhansk region). I have lived for four years in the occupied territories because I didn’t have a chance to move somewhere since the war had begun in 2014. Then in 2018 I moved to Sievierodonetsk as I entered the University but, unfortunately, after almost four years of amazing life of my own I had to move again because of the Russian war actions. For now I live in my friend’s house in the western part of Ukraine and kind of feel safe. But sometimes I think that it’s so unfair that I always need to escape somewhere and now I need to do it again.

However, I’m responsible, open-minded, and quite independent, but not very talkative and shy person; but I want to travel and meet new people and get more knowledge and experience. My major is philology and translation and I’ve also been a teacher/tutor of English for teens for two years now.

Don’t know what else to add but I’d be really grateful for the given help in such difficult times for Ukraine.

Kate

My full name is Kateryna Bublii. I am 21 years old, and this year I will finish my studies at the university and receive a bachelor’s degree. My major is philology and translation. I lived in the east of Ukraine, in the Luhansk region. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the life of my family. After spending the first three weeks of the war in the basement escaping the bombs, my family made the decision to evacuate me. So now my family is completely separated. I live in the western part of Ukraine, my dad is in the central part, and my mom is in the northeast. Now I have no opportunity to return home, as my city has been occupied.

Talking about my personal qualities, I’m mostly an introvert, and it’s stressful for me to meet new people, but I’m trying to get rid of this character trait. Despite my introversion, I am a responsive, responsible person and ready to help if my help is needed.

I have little work experience. I worked for two months as a waitress in a hotel restaurant in Bulgaria and received positive recommendations. However, the main area in which I would like to realize myself is teaching English. My main goal is learning English and teaching methods. At the moment I have little speaking practice, so communication may be difficult for the first time. However, I hope that this experience will help me to speak English confidently and improve my level so that I can return to Ukraine and be able to help children and teenagers to learn English.

Can you help?

Please share this with whomever you feel might be able to spread the word and find hosts for these young Ukrainians. Please also feel free to contact me if you have any further question or need clarification. You can contact me at [email protected] or 503-780-0187.

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