MEET YANA

Hi! I am Ukrainian mother of little children: nine-month-old Severyn and 5-year-old Markiian. At the moment when the Russians attacked us in February, I was pregnant and lived near Hostomel (suburb of Kyiv) with my husband and a small child. Miraculously, we managed to save ourselves and escape. In March, Russian soldiers broke into our house, looted it, everything was stolen and damaged. On March 5, my friend, who has been living in New York for 12 years, invited me and my child to her place to sit out the war. I thought that after couple of months we would be able to return home. We couldn't imagine that the war would drag on like this, missiles are still periodically shot down near our house, all Ukrainian cities are shelled. Unfortunately, I cannot yet return home with a newborn baby and a 5-year-old son. This is still too dangerous.

In New York we were very lucky: we got insurance, I gave birth to a healthy baby, my children have good pediatricians, my son has the opportunity to go to the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan for free and play hockey with great coaches at Chelsea Piers, many people helped us with clothes, products and collected funds for our needs.

March 2023, we have managed to secure, with the help of the Fund, a 12 month lease for us to live in New York!