Welcome home: Ukrainian families now in Oak Ridge

It’s a long way from war-torn Ukraine to the peaceful streets of Oak Ridge, Tenn. Just ask four Ukrainian women and four children who made that journey.

Mariia (Masha) Rudiuk and her son Artem (Tema); Tetiana (Tania) Alfimova and daughters Miroslava (Mira) and Kseniia (Ksyusha); and Olha (Olya) Kvach and her baby Nikol Ilchenko and her mother Tamara have been in Oak Ridge since late April.

They were sponsored by Grant Ceffalo, who works for a local contractor, North Wind, and supported many environmental cleanup and construction projects, including several in Oak Ridge. He retired in early December and moved to Ukraine. Previously, he worked with Tania and her husband at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

“They all took part in the construction of a New Safe Confinement over the fourth reactor, which was destroyed by the accident in 1986,” said Tania.

He also knew Masha and Olya's husband. Grant returned to work in the United States just before Russia invaded Ukraine.

“When the war started, he stayed in contact with all his friends there and helped them financially," Tania said. "When a pathway to the U.S. opened, he arranged transportation for our group to America, and bought a house in Oak Ridge, because he thought the community spirit was the best fit for his friends.”

Tania and Masha speak English and Olya and her mother are taking English classes at Grace Lutheran Church. Masha is an economist for a gas-drilling company in Kiev. Olya is a rhythmic gymnastics teacher, which is now an Olympic competition. She said this type of gymnastics is performed using a hoop, ball, ribbon or rope. She said she is hoping to begin teaching rhythmic gymnastics in Oak Ridge.

Tania is an administrative manager for the Chernobyl Research & Development Institute and is still working for them remotely from Oak Ridge.

She pointed out, “All its workers are working remotely, some from bomb shelters.”

She is from Slavutych, which is “a purpose-built settlement for workers in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone,” according to Wikipedia.

Tania and Masha studied at the International University of Finance together and Tania knew Olya for about five years, because she was a coach in rhythmic gymnastics for her eldest daughter and they developed a friendly relationship.

“When I came to Poland, I told Olya to come, because it was safe there," Tania recalled. "Olya waited on the Ukrainian side of the border for 24 hours in a car with her baby.

“The Polish people were incredible,” said Tania. “We had nothing when we arrived, only small backpacks. They gave us an apartment, food, clothes and coats. We lived above a garage, where there was a shower, a toilet, and a kitchen that we shared with the staff, but the people were kind and polite and helpful, treated us and our children well, and gave us many children's things. Once when Poland was testing their bomb warning system, we were scared it was happening all over again. The children sobbed in horror.”

Grant contacted them after they had been in Poland about three weeks and said he could help them.

“He paid for our tickets from Warsaw to Paris to Mexico City to Tijuana to San Diego,” Tania said. “He met us in Mexico City to help us cross the border.”

The four women and four children then flew from San Diego to Atlanta to Knoxville and finally arrived in Oak Ridge on Friday, April 15.

“It took us one week to make it from Warsaw to Knoxville.” Tania said. “There were crazy long lines in Paris due to COVID restrictions, and we missed our flight. At first, they said we’d have to buy new tickets, but we had no money, so after they heard of our plight, Air France gave us free tickets to Mexico City.

"We met nice people everywhere,” she added.

Masha said it was very scary getting out of Ukraine.

“From Kiev to the border is usually a six-hour journey, but there was bombing everywhere all around us, especially the main roads, so Artem’s father had to find back roads, dirt roads, so it took us 20 hours to reach the border. Then, we had to spend 18 hours on a bus, waiting to cross the border.”

Tania said she waited at the border for Masha and her son.

"Crossing the Polish border was very difficult for me and my children, it was night, we crossed the border on foot for seven hours in 5-degree temperatures, the children were very cold and warmed their freezing hands on my body. One of the refugee children in line had very few clothes on but was given something warm to wrap around him, and one child in line had no food or water, but we shared with him. While waiting in line, all the people became like relatives. We tried to support, warm, feed and cheer each of the children present there. Strong Ukrainian women smiled at their children through tears, because they understood they had lost their home, their beloved husbands, their lives. We smiled, even if our eyes were empty and our hearts broken.”

Masha added, “I had brought one bottle of water for me and one for my son. When we were on the bus so long, I gave my water to him and only wet my lips occasionally.”

She said it made her angry that they couldn’t even have water, so she complained to the guards and finally, they brought them more water.

Olya and Tamara are from a city that is close to the Belarusian border. One road leads out of the city, but it was blocked by Russian tanks and everywhere there were checkpoints with the invaders, people were not allowed out, so they got out of town on an old roadbed, a dirt road. The usually two-hour trip to go 136 miles took them eight hours. She said she could hear bombs hitting all around them and all she could do was hold her 10-month-old baby close. At one point they even traveled through a place thought to be mined and while she brought food and formula for the baby, finding hot water to make the formula was almost impossible. They spent part of February and March in a makeshift bomb shelter, which was just a room under a building that had been turned into a shelter.

“When our city was captured, we had no electricity, no water, no food, and it was winter," said Olya. "There is no gas in the city; everything depends on electricity. We had to cook on the fire outside between the explosions. When the troops left, all the roads were destroyed, all the warehouses were empty. There was no formula mixture or diapers."

Tania spoke of how Russians destroyed everything in the captured Chernobyl nuclear power plant, even old tables and chairs.

“Whatever they could not take with them, they destroyed. In our hometown of Slavutych, when citizens came out to tell them they didn't want them there, the Russians shot five civilians. In Ukraine, even buses and buildings marked ‘children’ and cars filled with children were fired upon by the Russians troops," Tania said.

Tania and Olya are married, and their husbands are still in Ukraine doing what they can for the war effort, along with several of the women's family members. Both Tania and Olya’s husbands volunteer for the military by delivering items they need to the front lines, such as ammunition and medicine.

Masha said her ex-husband “is a military man and takes a direct part in the battles, where he protects the territory and people from the Russian invaders. My son is very proud of his father,” she said, adding that her husband has already been injured by shrapnel, but his vest saved him from dying. He escaped with a few broken ribs.

Tania’s nephews were injured too, one in the leg and the other in the chest and face. As soon as they recovered, they went right back to fighting. Luckily, the women can communicate at times with their loved ones thanks to cell phones and computers, at least long enough to know they are still alive. Masha’s 3-year-old son talked to his dad on Father’s Day and made him a colorful fish tank, which he proudly shows to all visitors.

Masha said some people are going back to Kiev to work, but bombs are still falling and since no one knows what Russia will do, they need to be careful. She is trying to bring her sister here who has now made it out of Ukraine and is in Poland. Tania’s niece in Ukraine is trying to get to the U.S. for further college education.

The women and their children said they like Oak Ridge.

“Everyone has been so helpful and friendly. We have great neighbors, and we are very grateful to everyone for the warm welcome and support.” Tania said.

Everything they have has been given to them. Volunteers from Oak Ridge organizations and churches like Altrusa and Rotary clubs, Grace Lutheran Church and others have donated furniture, food and clothing. Their kind neighbors helped them find Mira a dog named Barbie for her birthday. A dog belonging to Olya, Nikol and Tamara had to be left in Poland, and was not allowed to cross the border due to lack of documents. They’ve asked for help from volunteers to deliver their dog from Warsaw to the U.S.

TNBank has established a fund in their name called the Ukrainian Refugee Family Account, and anyone in the community can drop off any amount of donations at the bank either through the drive through or at a teller's window. The women are making and selling T-shirts to help raise funds, as well, which show a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, and the words, “I Stand With Ukraine.” They have all sizes for children and adults and may be ordered through sunflowerukraine2022@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Ukrainian families welcomed home in Oak Ridge