Refugee Helping Refugees

In the first day of the war, we went to West Ukraine. We didn't want to go outside of country. But then bombs started in West Ukraine. I was nervous and my kids became a nervous too. I asked my husband, 'What do you think?' and he told me, ‘Go’. At that time, it was a lot of refugees on the border and I was afraid. There were a lot of volunteers in the train station and they helped help me to a train. Polish people, they're amazing and they do a lot of huge things for us. I never thought that some day I would be in situation and like, 'Where are my kids? Where is my stuff?’

When the war happened, my friend in Poland wrote in our group, ‘Girls if you need it, our can church help.’ We studied at a Bible college. We stayed in touch all these years. I wrote her and she was like, of course you can come.

The church helps with everything. They allowed us to be moms here. We have freedom. They give us food but we decide what to prepare. For women, it's helpful to feel like I can do something for my kids.

When we came here, I didn't know the Polish language. And I'm a psychologist. What kind of job I can find? But then I was like ‘Okay, God, you know. You're my Father. I'm your daughter, that's all.’ For the last 10 years, I was a school psychologist. So now, each day I go to different schools and help our Ukrainian kids. I have five or six kids who I work with in each school. They need Ukrainian psychologists because it’s same language, same situation. I am a refugee, just like them, so I go through all of these steps with them. It’s very good. I can invite them for Ukrainian club at the church and they will hear about Christ. I invite them to church, where I live. I don’t know how long I will be here, so I try and find a way to tell them about God.