BRANDON — Liudmyla Todorova, her husband Serhii and their one-year-old son lived in a lovely seaside city — until Russian cruise missiles slammed into it.
“Great city. Beautiful city. I miss it very much,” Todorova said about Odessa as she sold Ukrainian-themed items at a booth at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon.
“But when we saw several explosions, we just took our son, and documents and money and (fled).”
Like millions of fellow Ukrainians who left in a panic following Russia’s invasion more than a year ago, Todorova’s family has faced wrenching dislocations.
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The family was accepted for settlement in Canada, but an attempt to find work for Serhii in the high-technology sector in Ottawa foundered because of his poor English skills. However, he quickly found work thousands of kilometres to the west, in Brandon, as an internet installer for Bell MTS. The family arrived and quickly found Ukrainians all around them.
“He is always meeting Ukrainians or people with Ukrainian relatives and family,” said Liudmyla, who speaks fluent English.
She found a well-developed community of Ukrainian immigrants and refugees that allowed the family to adapt to Canada more easily than they expected.
“We like people in Canada,” she said, surrounded by items being sold to raise money to send back to Ukraine to help with the life-and-death struggle.
“All our money from these go to our army in Ukraine.”
The local efforts are being organized by Tryzub, a Brandon-based Ukrainian-Canadian organization set up years before the war in Ukraine.
Olga Boiko arrived as a regular immigrant 13 years ago and was pleased to find so many Manitobans had Ukrainian ancestry and were happy to meet new arrivals from the country.
“We are all from different parts of Ukraine,” said Boiko.
She is from the north and there are people from western and central Ukraine in Brandon, as well as Odessa.
The troubles back home have been upsetting and Boiko admitted it feels overwhelming to think about what family and friends back in Ukraine are facing.
Working to raise money to support Ukraine on top of everything else in life can become exhausting.
“It’s more than one year of the war. Sometimes we feel tired, and ‘oh no, I cannot do it,’” said Boiko.
“And then I sit down on my couch and I feel, ‘Olga, you cannot give up because it’s harder for those soldiers and people in Ukraine.’”
