Liubov’s Journey Reflection
When the war in Ukraine started on February 24, 2022, my husband, Anton and I knew we needed to leave Ukraine immediately; I was pregnant with our first child who was due in four days.
We were very worried about where to go to give birth to our baby after fleeing our homeland.
First, we went to Romania and were welcomed by people at a Christian seminary. A few days later, we received a call inviting us to Germany. Thankfully our daughter, Emilia, waited until we had arrived in Germany before she was born. People we didn’t know took care of us, and we were given a wonderful apartment to stay in for six months.
The war continued and we didn’t know what to do next. We thought about America a couple of times, and decided to try to look for a sponsor. It was difficult to find a person who would sign the sponsorship documents for our entry to the U.S., but everything was resolved once we found someone. We arrived in the U.S. and immediately found a home in another state but we were lonely being new to the country, and having no friends here.
Later, we found out that some friends were planning to move to Minnesota, so once again we packed our things and moved to a new place. Friends advised us to seek help from the refugee resettlement agency Arrive Ministries to support us in our new state.
How important it was for us to have someone help us in submitting documents for local benefits, health insurance, health screening, and other matters. The Arrive Ministries case managers would call and ask how things were going, help with various documents, support our job searches, and advise us about life in our new community.
We are grateful for our case managers and all of the kind people at Arrive Ministries.
Just 250 days after arriving in Minnesota, we now rent our own apartment, my husband goes to work, we are learning English, and we are expecting another baby!
We do not know how our life will turn out and whether we will be able to stay in America, but we continue to live our unique life.
