Imagine for a moment that downtown Eatonton is the border between your country and a country bent on your destruction. Then imagine that you live a few blocks from downtown Greensboro, a mere 23 miles from that border.
Finally, you’re awakened from a deep sleep in the wee hours of the morning by the sound of exploding artillery shells and missile strikes. What do you do? Panic? Scream? Run?
Hide? Real questions that, quite frankly, I cannot answer.
Questions that the Bezsonova family in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv had no choice but to answer. Natasha and her husband Roman, along with their nine-year-old daughter Arina awoke to the sounds of war at 4 a.m. on Feb. 24, 2022.
In another part of the city of 1.5 million people, their other daughter, Luiza, and her boyfriend, Valeriy, were jostled awake at the same time. Missiles and artillery shells from the border a little more than 20 miles away signaled the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a state of alarm and confusion, Natasha, Roman and Arina took refuge in the basement shelter of their apartment building, while Luiza and Valeriy hid in the bathroom of their apartment. None could believe that the leader of Russia had taken this final and destructive act to invade their sovereign country.
It was the middle of winter and after a few hours several things quickly became clear.
There was no power, it was getting very cold, cell phone service was out and the internet was down. Then, there was the issue of food; the essentials of life were quickly disappearing.
Over the next six days, Natasha and her family were greeted with the sight of overflying Russian MIGs, destroying buildings, craters where playgrounds used to be, and disturbingly long lines at the few food stores still accessible. Then Luiza’s company, an internationally known internet domain name and hosting company, offered a way out. The company had made arrangements for a bus to take out their employees and family members from the city’s central bus terminal.
On March 3, the trek to the western Ukraine city of Lviv began. Luiza and Valeriy were on the bus. With Roman at the wheel, Natasha and Arina were in a car following the bus. Lviv is about 650 miles from Kharkiv and would normally be about a 13-hour drive.
With the chaos of war, however, the trip took much longer, and it was pretty terrifying. In addition to caring for a very frightened Arina and driving around the burned-out hulks of Russian armored personnel carriers and tanks, their car was stopped numerous times by Ukrainian troops for inspection. Similar to counties in the U.S., Ukraine is divided into a number of administrative districts.
The Bezsonova family had to pass through at least seven of these districts. At the border of each, armed Ukrainian troops would check IDs, passports, and other papers to make sure the people fleeing westward were who they said they were.
Russian spies were known to intermix with refugees to gather information on Ukrainian troop strengths and placements.
During these frequent stops, the car with Roman, Natasha and Arina lost contact with the bus, and they had to journey on alone. Finally, after a three-day ordeal, they arrived in Lviv. The bus had arrived a day earlier.
Home to more than 700,000 people, Lviv is not only an important cultural center in the country but also a well-known university town. And possibly even more important, Lviv is about 30 miles from the border with Poland and safety. Dealing with the influx of refugees, authorities in Lviv decided it would be safer to house families in outlying towns.
Roman, Natasha, Arina, Luiza and Valeriy were sent by bus to the little village of Tukhlya in the Carpathian Mountains, 32 miles south-southwest of Lviv. The wintertime mountain views were stunning. And thanks to a Starlink satellite positioned over Lviv by Elon Musk, internet access had been restored in the area. Although not subjected to missile strikes or shelling, life in this small town still was not easy.
The village was not prepared to handle this influx of people. And the one general store barely kept up with food essentials. On top of that, the family was housed in a chalet-style log cabin, along with 40 or more other people. Bedrooms were often occupied by seven people or more. Crowded was a poor descriptor of the situation, but they persevered in this location for almost six months.
Natasha’s sister, Violeta Penna, lives with her husband Chris on Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia. Since the Russian invasion, she had managed to keep track of her sibling’s situation in Ukraine and sought a way to bring them to safety in America.
In mid-June, Violeta learned of a Department of Homeland Security program created by its U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency that would bring Ukrainian refugees into the United States for a two-year period. In addition to the paperwork, the government needed to know that the sponsoring family could economically support the refugees. Once all that was completed, Violeta let her sister know what was going on, as well as what papers and necessary vaccines were needed to enter the United States.
At 3 a.m. on Aug. 31, the family departed Tukhlya for Lviv, a three-hour trip.
From there, Natasha, Arina and Luiza spent the next 10 hours traveling to the Polish border and from there to Warsaw (being subject to possible military service, Roman and Valeriy had to stay behind). Next, a threehour flight from Warsaw to Paris. Finally, the three boarded an eighthour flight from Paris to Atlanta. Then two hours with customs and border control before a tearfully happy uniting with Violeta and Chris.
How are the three doing today? Natasha, Arina and Luiza are all amazed at how quiet and peaceful things are in Greensboro, which was quite a change from MIGs flying above and explosions on the ground in Ukraine. Arina is enrolled in the fourth grade at Greene County Primary School.
The school has provided her with a computer that takes the teacher’s English and speaks Ukrainian to Arina, and she, in turn, speaks Ukrainian into the computer and the teacher hears the response in English. It is estimated that in about three months’ time, her English skills will be advanced to the point where she will no longer need the computer. Luiza has already made a round trip to Seattle, Wash., where she visited another relative. Natasha is keeping in touch with Roman back in Ukraine and simply enjoying life with her sister.
Their adoptive church family at the First Presbyterian Church (FPC) of Greensboro, where Chris Penna is a member, held a welcoming event on Aug. 25 for Natasha, Arina and Luiza after church.
There was good food, lots of smiling and laughter, and the opportunity to greet these brave and wonderful people. To help out with food and clothing, church members presented Natasha, Arina and Luiza with gift cards from Publix, Ingles, and Kohls. They also attended the church’s annual service and luncheon on Oct. 2 at Parks Ferry Recreation Area.
Luiza returned to Ukraine on Oct. 15 to be with Valeriy in Lviv. Natasha and Arina plan to reunite with Roman in Kyiv once the war is over.
The journey from Kharkiv to Greensboro involved a father and mother who did everything they could to keep their children safe and secure; a devoted sister and her husband who helped make it possible for Natasha, Arina and Luiza to come to America; and a loving church family that opened its welcoming arms to this wonderful family from Ukraine.
Future plans for the family? Natasha and Arina will continue their stay in the United States. They plan to reunite with Roman in Kyiv, once the war is over. Luiza is already back in Ukraine. She returned in the middle of October to be with Valeriy and to get back to work. Unfortunately, once the Russians started attacking Ukrainian infrastructure, Luiza can no longer do her work.
She, like almost every other citizen of Ukraine, now must endure no heat, food shortages, spotty communications and only one hour of power a day. So, as Christmas and the Ukrainian winter approach, the outlook for the couple – as well as for Roman in Kyiv – is bleak.