Winnipegger evacuated from eastern Ukraine overwhelmed by grief, thankful for support
CBC
A Winnipegger's three-year commitment in Ukraine has been temporarily suspended six months into her stay due to the growing conflict with Russia in the eastern European nation.
Until earlier this month, Andrea Shalay was working in Zaporizhzhia, an industrial city in southeastern Ukraine, as the peace engagement co-ordinator for Europe with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
On Feb. 13, the organization got her and her three American colleagues out of Ukraine, sending them to an undisclosed location due to concerns about a coming conflict, which erupted Thursday as Russia invaded.
In a Zoom interview Friday morning, Shalay said it was hard to leave Zaporizhzhia, which is about 300 kilometres from the Russian border.
"This is my home. This is my community. These are my friends, these are my colleagues," she said.
"And to be in a situation where suddenly all that has been ripped apart has definitely been very difficult."
The MCC has worked in Ukraine since the 1920s, collaborating with local partners in response to fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed part of the region.
The charitable relief organization had 11 employees based in Zaporizhzhia, but one other international employee left before Shalay and the three Americans, leaving six Ukrainian staff members still in the city.
Shalay has regularly been in touch with MCC staff still in Zaporizhzhia, and says the focus is on providing whatever support possible to them.
"For myself, there's definitely been a lot of overwhelm and I think grief about everything that is going on," she said. "And just knowing that our national staff, our Ukrainian staff are still there ... there's a lot of worry as well."
Since Russian troops started to invade Ukraine by land, air and sea early Thursday morning local time, Shalay has also been in touch with friends and other community connections.
She thinks the catastrophe of what is unfolding in the country her great-grandparents emigrated from more than 100 years ago is much worse than Ukrainians expected.
"There's definitely a fear at this point. I think there's also a lot of sadness.… The sense I get from a lot of the Ukrainians I talked to is they just really want to be left to live in peace and freedom," Shalay said.
She said she's encouraged by "stories of resiliency and solidarity" that she's heard.
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