Farmington's Ukrainian immigrants reflect on experiences as war enters third year

This article is the first in a two-part series. To read the second part visit our website or pick up a copy of the March 10 edition.

Unlike many of her fellow Ukrainians who have settled elsewhere in recent years, Anastasiia Yedlenko says she wasn’t terribly sad about leaving her home country and starting over in America.

“I was excited to change the scenario in my life,” said the San Juan College freshman, who came to this country in August 2021 as a high school exchange student. “I knew my life (in Ukraine) was prewritten for me. I would try to get accepted to a medical university, then study really hard and work hard and retire and die.”

Yedlenko viewed her move to America, originally planned as a one-year stint during which she would study at Piedra Vista High School in Farmington, as a chance to see what else the world had to offer. It’s not that she is averse to hard work — the excellent grades she has earned since she arrived here prove otherwise — it’s that she yearned for more exciting and varied possibilities than their home country, which only gained its independence with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, could offer her.

Little could she have known when she arrived in Farmington in August 2021 that her stay in America would turn out to be a prolonged one — and, if she has her way, permanent. Yedlenko was stranded here when Russia invaded her country in February 2022, leaving her unable to communicate with her parents — who live in the eastern-Ukrainian city of Mariupol — for approximately nine months.

Yedlenko’s parents survived the infamous, months-long siege of Mariupol, but the port city is now Russian-occupied territory, leaving the 18-year-old Yedlenko unable, and unwilling, to return home. Instead, she has gone on to graduate from Piedra Vista and is now taking classes at San Juan College and is hoping to be accepted into the nursing program this spring.

She also has become one of approximately two dozen Ukrainian expatriates who have resettled in Farmington over the last two years. Yedlenko has joined the others in building a new life here while keeping a wary eye on developments in Ukraine, where they continue to fret over the fate of the family members and friends left behind as the war enters its third year with no end in sight.

The Ukrainians have been assisted in their relocation by the Gordon Glass Sponsor Circle, a group of local residents who committed themselves to providing financial and other support to the immigrants until they could get back on their feet.

“I think it’s been phenomenally successful on so many more levels than we anticipated,” said the Rev. Rebecca Morgan, one of the leaders of the sponsor circle and the former interim pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Farmington. “Not only have we been able to provide safety and shelter, and help people get their feet under them, but this has been wonderful for the people of San Juan County.”

Getting to know the Ukrainians has been a rewarding experience, Morgan said, one that has enriched her life and the lives of other members of the sponsor circle.

More: 'It gives me hope': Farmington group increasing support for local Ukrainian immigrants

“It’s been a wonderful experience for me, especially the ones I’ve built a friendship with,” said Kirtland resident Mick Hesse, another member of the sponsor circle and one of the performers in a benefit concert for the Ukrainians that was scheduled for late February in Farmington. “I’ve enjoyed watching then adapt for the last two years, especially the young ones, who are evolving into little Americans.”

'It's my second home already'

The local Ukrainian community consists of five families and Yedlenko, who lives with a Farmington couple, Larry and Jeanette Larson. The others all live in their own homes, with most of them already having achieved financial independence less than two years after they arrived here.

That list includes Katya Demokhina, who came to Farmington in June 2022 with her son, 12-year-old Bohdan, and daughter, 10-year-old Ivanna. Like most other Ukrainian men, Demokhina’s husband, Serhii, remained behind, continuing his work as an electrician and maintaining the family’s home in Cherkasy, a city southeast of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on the banks of a Dnipro River, a waterway so wide that Demokhina said it is impossible to see the other side. The city was home to nearly 270,000 people and was considered a cultural, educational and industrial powerhouse when war erupted.

Demokhina was an experienced web developer in Ukraine and hoped to find work in that field here. But her lack of degree from an American college or university prevented her from getting so much as a single interview with any web development company in New Mexico, even though she said she already spoke passable English when she arrived.

Refusing to become discouraged, Demokhina quickly found work with the New Mexico Human Services Department, earned a New Mexico driver’s license, was gifted a car by the sponsor circle, enrolled her kids in the Farmington Municipal School District and is fully supporting her family. The family’s adjustment to life in America has been rapid and challenging, but it also appears to have been very successful.

“It’s my second home already,” Demokhina said. “I have a job, my kids are in school, they have friends and they love being here.”

Jumping in with both feet

To be sure, the transition to a new life in America is not as smooth for all Ukrainian immigrants as it has been for Yedlenko, Demokhina and her family. But most of the Ukrainians who have resettled in Farmington have done remarkably well.

One reason for that is they have been able to benefit from the experience of Olena Erickson, a Ukrainian immigrant who came to Farmington with her two children in 2011 when she married a local man. Erickson has thrived in Farmington, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and becoming a controller at the San Juan Regional Medical Center.

She has served two terms as the president of the Farmington Rotary Club and even has been a candidate for public office, mounting an unsuccessful campaign for the San Juan College Board of Trustees. She also is one of 10 candidates who have applied for the vacant District 2 seat on Farmington City Council.

Erickson, also a member of the Gordon Glass Sponsor Circle, acknowledges that she has jumped into life in Farmington with both feet. But even with an American husband, she said her transition to life here in 2011 was a challenge.

Erickson had earned a master’s degree and been a successful businesswoman in Ukraine, owning two businesses and managing others. When she arrived in Farmington, she expected to simply pick up her career where she had left off, especially since she already considered herself relatively good at speaking English.

So it came as a shock when she quickly discovered her proficiency at the language needed some work. Erickson found she couldn’t understand American TV or even conduct a transaction at the grocery store by herself.

There also were significant differences in expectations when it came to education and work, she said, leading her to realize quickly she needed to downgrade her expectations for a new job. Erickson settled on taking a job as a hostess at a Chili’s restaurant.

More: U.S. Sen. Heinrich reiterates support for war effort during meeting with Ukranian families

For many people, being forced to take that kind of professional step back would have been extremely disheartening. But Erickson said she refused to feel sorry for herself and instead decided to embrace the experience.

Meeting so many people everyday and engaging them in conversation forced Erickson to hone her English-speaking skills. It also allowed her to get to know Farmington residents and develop a feel for what the community was like.

“I’m grateful for the experience,” she said.

Erickson quickly parlayed that experience into something better, landing a job as a retail store manager within three months. She took English classes, obtained her GED, enrolled in classes at San Juan College and the joined the Rotary Club. Within a few years, Erickson would obtain a master’s degree from New Mexico Highlands University, earn a CPA license and rise to a leadership position in the Rotary Club.

So when she talks about her experiences as an American with the more-recent Ukrainian immigrants here, her words carry significant weight. She understands how disappointed many of them might be with their initial work circumstances here, pointing to one man who was an airline executive in Ukraine but who has found himself shut out of that field here.

Erickson knows how humbling and stressful that kind of that experience can be. But she advises her fellow Ukrainian expats not to lose heart, pointing to her own rapid rise through the ranks as an example of the promise this country still holds for those willing to apply themselves.

“I appreciate how well I was treated here,” Erickson said, recalling her initial experience in Farmington.

She has advised her fellow Ukrainians to immerse themselves in the fabric of local life, rather than isolate themselves among member of their own community. She said she was pleased to see that most of them have done that.

Nearly every adult has found work, she said, and even the one who hasn’t — a woman whose recovery from surgery has kept her from holding a job — has responded by doing volunteer work at a local animal shelter. Additionally, all of the Ukrainians are taking English classes, and many have found a local church and/or local sewing or craft club to join.

Plunging themselves headlong into the English-speaking world is the fastest way to become comfortable in their new home, Erickson said she has told the Ukrainians.

“The more you’re immersed, the better off you are,” she said. “It doesn’t matter in what – you can be volunteering in school or bringing donuts to your church group.”

The Ukrainians also have bonded with the members of the Gordon Glass Sponsor Circle, with folks from both communities essentially having become a large, extended family over the last two years. They get together regularly to celebrate Ukrainian and American holidays, Morgan said.

“I’ve spent the last two Thanksgivings and Christmases with the Ukrainians,” she said. “I’ve just invited whoever’s around to my house for dinner. I remember at one of those gatherings, we were sitting around the table, and I would ask, ‘What does the holiday mean to you? And then then tears would start.”

The response of one of the Ukrainians was especially meaningful to Morgan, she said.

“He said, ‘After two years of Christmas with you guys, you are part of my family now,’” she recalled, her voice growing thick with emotion.

To Morgan, that sentiment encapsulates much of what this experience has been like for the Ukrainians.

“There is tenderness for once was, gratitude for what is and hope for what will be,” she said.

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. This journalism is possible because of the support of our local community. Please consider supporting local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Farmington' Ukrainian immigrants already putting down roots in America