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Ukrainian student haunted by war finds haven in Sarnia

Cathy Dobson Since fleeing Kyiv in May, a sense of heightened anxiety never left 18-year-old Mykyta Ivanchuk until he arrived at Missy Burgess’ house in Sarnia three months later.
Nick Ivanchuk with his host Missy Burgess. (Cathy Dobson photo)
Nick Ivanchuk with his host Missy Burgess. (Cathy Dobson photo)

Cathy Dobson

Since fleeing Kyiv in May, a sense of heightened anxiety never left 18-year-old Mykyta Ivanchuk until he arrived at Missy Burgess’ house in Sarnia three months later.

“I told myself I’d only feel relief when I was in Sarnia and in this house,” said the young man who prefers to be called Nick now that he’s in Canada. “I was so afraid something would go wrong.”

Many things did go wrong as he made contact with a small Sarnia group trying to help Ukrainian refugees move here. He’d learned about Sarnia from a good friend who also fled when the Russians invaded their homeland. It wasn’t an easy decision for Nick to leave his parents’ home in Kyiv. His dad can’t relocate because the Ukrainian army could call him up. His mom won’t leave his dad. But Nick said he could leave because he’s a university student.

“I was really afraid in Kyiv. It’s my favourite city but I grew afraid of the silence,” he said. “The Russians bomb buildings with their missiles. You hear the (sirens) every day.”

He got his chance to get out when Sarnian Lisa Matlovich with the Lambton County Ukraine Relief Group saw his online plea and took action.

“He is barely 18 and left his country on his own,” she said. “I could see he is a very gifted young man and he’s been through so much trauma. I got on the phone to find a way to bring him here. “I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Matlovich worked with Nick to secure a travel visa, arrange a flight and find a host to take him once he landed. Several times flights were arranged but fell through for one reason or another.

It was “beyond frustrating,” says Missy Burgess, a local entertainer and retired psych nurse who offered to host Nick. “I thought about the trauma the Ukrainians are going through and I realized I could do something, so one day I just called (St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church) and said I’d be a host,” Burgess said. “It’s important to let people know the beauty and the challenges of taking someone into your home. It’s a lot of work but there are also a lot of rewards.”

Burgess said she was certain she made the right decision after sending a letter to Nick’s mother explaining her background.

“I told her, mother to mother, that I would take good care of him.”

The letter she received in return from Nick’s mom cemented the deal. “In the first days of the war, we lived in the basement with all our neighbours, because it was scary to fall asleep in the apartment, knowing that somewhere nearby enemy tanks were driving and killing people,” Elen Ivanchuk wrote. “As a mother, my heart bled, seeing my son's youth pass in such an environment…Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your understanding, kindness and responsiveness. It is nice to know that there are people like you on our planet.”

Burgess and Nick say they were immediate friends.

“My first day here felt like a movie,” he said. “I was smiling…I really like everything about Canada.”

The two have bonded in the last month with Nick readily sharing his stories about escaping the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, relocating with his family to Kyiv, only to come under Russian attack again in February. He admits to missing his parents very much and fearing for their safety. But he also looks to the future.

“I will do my best to be responsible for myself,” he said. “I will find a job and I’ll start school (at Lambton College), probably in January.”

His English skills are very good already but he is improving them with ESL lessons.

“I thank God I’m here and that a lot of people helped me,” Nick said. “When you have war in your country and understand you can be shot, you pray all the time. “I know all of us who were there will be affected by it for the rest of our lives.”

Dr. Cassandra Taylor of the Lambton County Ukraine Relief Group says about 100 Ukrainians have come to Sarnia-Lambton since the Russians invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. At least one new family arrives every week and more host homes are needed. The group also needs financial help to pay for plane tickets and other necessities once the Ukrainians arrive.

For more on the local effort, contact Dr. Taylor at [email protected] or see the ‘Save Ukraine-Sarnia and Lambton County’ Facebook page.


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