Kia ora koutou,
Now that Luba is here safely in Aotearoa, we are going to close down our fundraiser.
Thank YOU for all you have done to save her life. She prays every day for each of you, and the miracle you've helped bring to reality.
Vlad and Christine
Peace and blessings!
We are thrilled to tell you that Liubov has safely arrived here in New Zealand.
She's been sleeping a lot, recovering from the long journey, but she's safe. She keeps saying how she's in disbelief that she's alive and out if eastern Ukraine. The things she has witnessed are absolutely horrific. She will never be the same, but she's safe and surrounded by love now... which is appropriate as that's her name... Liubov. Aroha. Love.
YOU had a hand in making this happen for her. YOU helped save a life. I will never be able to thank you enough.
Ngā mihi nui,
Vlad and Christine
Congratulations and arohanui to your whanau. I'm so pleased and relieved for you all.
Vlad and Christine That is wonderful news. Congratulations to you both for your love and bravery. Please give our love to Liubov and welcome to her here to New Zealand. I personally have never been more pleased to help you on this mission. Cheers David
Thrilled for you all! The true hallmark of humanity is love and sacrifice. What we did is small compared to His acts, but to be a part of Liubov's rescue has been very humbling.
Well, well done to you all! Welcome to Liubov, I'm so chuffed she is finally here with you all. ❤️
I'm so happy and relieved to hear that your dear Liubov is now with you in New Zealand! Congratulations on the success of all of your heroic efforts. May Liubov find peace, comfort, and strength as she puts the horrible experiences behind her.
Just a very short note to let everyone know that Liubov has just stepped off the bus in Warsaw and Vlad has her now.
Thank you all again for your support!
Vlad and Christine
Fantastic news!
Such wonderful news!!
I have read all your updates and this is the best news that Liubov has arrived safely. I can only imagine the things she has gone through. I hope that being surrounded by those that love her will help her heal. Sending hugs x
Kia ora koutou,
Sending each and every one of you a massive mihi nui, thank you, for everything you have done to help us bring Vlad's mum home to us. The evacuation has started - they are on the move.
As I write this Vlad is en route, about an hour from landing in Dubai, where he'll connect to Warsaw.
Liubov will be leaving Kharkiv in a few short hours, and is all set with her required documentation and negative Covid test.
They should be together in Warsaw, early morning on Saturday, the 20th.
I'll let everyone know once Vlad has her in his arms.
Thank you all again - we wouldn't be here without your support.
Vlad and Christine
I'm so very glad to hear this wonderful news!
I'm so very pleased for you all. Best wishes for a stress-free flight to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Hi everyone,
I'm really hoping that this post doesn't jinx anything, but wanted to give you a more complete update than the one I shared on 25 July.
All of the required plane, train, and bus tickets, along with the corresponding hotels and transit visas have been purchased.
Vlad will be flying from New Zealand to Warsaw on the 17th, and Liubov will begin her journey from Kharkiv on the 18th. They will meet each other in Warsaw early morning of the 20th.
It will take her 2 over night trips to get to Vlad - one on a train, one on a bus - so we will have her and Vlad stay in Warsaw for a few nights to give her a chance to rest up before the big journey to the other side of the planet.
They will arrive together here on Friday, the 26th of August.
Thank you again for helping her to escape the war - your generosity has had a direct impact on her life, and she (and we) are eternally grateful.
To give you an idea of how your generosity has helped, to date, we have paid out $16,626 NZD for airline tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, visas, hotels for her in Warsaw and Dubai (for an overnight layover), evacuation coordinators/travel escorts, and things like medication and food needed for her survival until this point.
There will be of course additional smaller costs that will be incurred on the actual journey itself (like food and they will need to get a PCR test before they fly for the UAE, but as you can see, your generosity has covered a good chunk of these costs. Hopefully there won't be unexpected surprises, but in the mean time, I just again wanted to say THANK YOU.
Warmest regards, ngā mihi nui,
Christine and Vlad
Thank you for the update, Christine and Vlad. This news update on Liubov's journey to New Zealand is so exciting!!!!
Such great news for the end of my week! I'm so happy for you all and am sending good vibes for the trip to her new home. 💗
Hi everyone,
A short but very important update - if everything goes according to plan, Liubov will be in New Zealand within the month.
The plan, routes and support people have been worked out and the wheels are now fully in motion to get her from Kharkiv to New Zealand.
The funds that have been raised through this effort will cover a good chunk of the costs for this journey and have (as I've outline previously) helped her to survive to this point. There isn't enough gratitude in the world to express how we feel right now for every bit of support Liubov has received from you.
We will keep you updated on her progress over the next 3-4 weeks and of course once she's firmly planted on Kiwi soil.
Thank you all again for your support through this all - she's nearly here!
Warmest of gratitude,
Vlad and Christine
I'm so glad to hear this good news!!
Hi Vlad and Christine, that is great news, I'm so excited for you all. Thanks for the updates.
Mōrena koutou,
Thank you all again for your support and help for Liubov. I wanted to give you a quick update on how she’s doing.
The past week has been a bit of a challenge, but she has over come it. The flat where she’s been staying had a major water line leak, but they were able to get someone in and fix it, so she can continue staying there for the time being. Which is great because of its good location (both to get supplies and it being in an area that isn’t seeing a lot of direct fighting.
She’s still not been able to get back to see her own building in person, but we’ve been able to see via others who are posting online that there are some clean up efforts starting in the area. She wanted to get someone to try to secure the door to her apartment – it’s fully open and accessible to anyone, and she’d also like to try to get some of her personal belongings as well.
Over the past week, we’ve been able to coordinate a few parcels to get to her, including some medications and much needed summer clothing and shoes. We are still trying to get the parcel of medications that we’d given to someone here to take, who ended up not going. Hopefully we will be able to get it back this week, and then get it to her another way.
Since my last update, we have been able to send her an additional $600 cash from your donations and I think we’ll be sending her another $600 (which is ~ 11k Ukrainian Hryvna) this week. Pensioners received their monthly payments by collecting them at their local post shop. Her post shop has been destroyed, so there’s no way for her to collect it or to transfer the distribution to another shop. This money is literally what is keeping her alive right now – thank you so much for this.
I’ll update you again in another week or two, or if anything in her situation changes.
Thank you again for all the support and love you’ve shown to Liubov.
Ngā mihi nui,
Christine and Vlad
Hi everyone,
This week has been a roller coaster of emotions and revealed to us just how some people will use others to promote themselves while wearing a false cloak of compassion. I thought I’d share this as a cautionary tale so you would also be aware of what some people are doing in the name of “support” for people impacted by this war.
About 2 weeks ago we were contacted by someone who had recently returned from a trip to Ukraine. He told us that a group he was working with would be in Liubov’s city soon and could bring her supplies and medicine, and if she was ready to leave, they could help her to go. She isn’t ready to leave yet, as I explained in my previous post, and she told them the same when they contacted her.
This person then told us that he was going back to Ukraine in the next week, was just sorting out the flights, and offered to take a parcel of medications for us - so we quickly put together a small parcel of vitamins and medication for Liubov and were very hopeful that it would make it to her hands in the next week or two.
Unfortunately, that’s when we started to see things for what they really are and realised that we, and more importantly Liubov, were given false hope and we were being set up as props for this person’s own self promotion.
A day after we handed the parcel to this person, he told us that he wasn’t able to get a flight, but that he wanted us to help him fundraise for his organisation (on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he’s supposedly already raised).
Conversations from that point onward were one-sided and focused on what we could do for him to help promote his own goals, and trying to redirect our efforts away from helping Liubov directly. It’s become clear to us that this person is really just using the war in Ukraine to promote himself and his own reputation.
This makes me both sad and angry on so many levels - primarily because we were led to believe there was a real hope that we would be able to get her the medication she needs. But in reality, it was never actually about her.
Unfortunately this week we’ve had to experience first hand what it’s like to be the target of someone who is willing to take advantage of other people’s tragedies in order to promote themselves. We will never fundraise for or promote an organisation that we can’t stand by, and the beauty of platforms like GiveaLittle, is that everything that people have given for Liubov is going directly to her, and no one else.
Liubov is doing ok this week - she’s gone out a few times to get some food and to try to find out what’s going to happen to her apartment building, but for the most part she’s just trying to stay well and not get sick again.
So thank you for reading through my update/rant. And thank you again for all your support during this time.
Be safe and be aware of those who are taking advantage of this situation for their own benefit.
Warm regards,
Christine and Vlad
Thank you for the update. I'm very sorry that that unexpected turn occurred. I hope that all is not lost and that the medication and vitamin parcel will in fact make it to your mother-in-law.
Hi everyone, thought I'd share a couple of quick updates.
Liubov was able to see a doctor last week and is feeling a bit better now, but she's still not ready to leave Kharkiv.
This week we were able to connect her to a group that's been doing some humanitarian work in Ukraine, to discuss evacuation. Unfortunately, it sounds like their timelines and agenda doesn't align with hers, but we aren't giving up hope.
I know it may be hard to understand why she didn't take that opportunity, so I thought I'd take a moment and explain that.
While things are somewhat stable in the city and the weather is fair, she is working to make sure she will retain rights to her property regardless of what happens to it.
At some point (hopefully soon) this war will end and people will rebuild. She has permission to be with us here in NZ for 2 years, but needs to think beyond that and what she will need to do to rebuild too.
Her apartment in the Gorizont microrayon is heavily damaged, but she still owns it. Her and other owners are working to find out what is going to happen to the building, what forms need to be submitted so that when the war ends they can prove their rights. This is truly one of the few things she has some control over and it's important for her to have something like this to focus on.
The situation on the ground there is fluid, but at the moment stable enough inside the city that she's safer staying where she is and contine to sort things out rather than leaving and crossing over the fighting.
I know you are eager to hear that she's left Kharkiv and is on her way here, and we are too. But that needs to be at the right time, and when she's ready. Nobody ever wants to leave their home and all they've ever known. It's a trauma on so many levels, and even though we would love to see her out of there today, she needs to be ready. And today, she's not. Tomorrow may be a totally different story.
In the mean time, and in the spirit of transparency, this is how your support (both via Givealittle and other fundraising) have been allocated as of today (all in NZD):
Total deposited into Liubov's account
+ $13,708.85
- $4,517.25 - direct cash transfers to Liubov for her day to day survival needs.
- $259.96 - purchase of medication and vitamin parcel that will be delivered to Liubov by a person we know who is heading to Ukraine soon
+ $8,931.64 - remaining in her account
+ $770 - funds pledged, not yet recieved
We will continue to keep you updated on the use of these gifts. And thank you so much for all of your support.
We can't wait for her to be here with us, but we have faith that it will all come together at the right time.
Ngā mihi nui,
Christine and Vlad
Hi everyone.
I apologise for not doing updates more frequently. In truth, there's a lot of just simply waiting, which seems to be a common theme when I speak to others who are trying to get family out of Kharkiv and into safety.
Liubov is still staying in the same building that she went to a few weeks ago, in the Kholodna Gora area of Kharkiv - it's the same building, in fact, where her sister used to live with her family for many years, so it's familiar to her.
She's not been well for the past few weeks as she's not been able to access daily medications that she'd been taking. She's lost over 20kg in the last 100 days and the sound of artillery during the night has recently triggered severe anxiety so she has been having more trouble sleeping than usual.
We've been able to get some more of the cash that you've donated directly to her, to help her obtain food and medications, but right now she could really do with some paracetemol in addition to her regular medications.
At this point, there is no clear idea of when it will be safe enough for her to leave Kharkiv. The fighting continues there daily, and it's too dangerous for her to leave. Evacuation trains that do get out are filled to almost 10x their capacity, so everyone must stand, and they have to travel slower than usual, so what's normally an overnight ride to the border is now taking 2 days. There's no way she would survive standing for 2 days, so we're hoping that she will be able to evacuate on one of the medical transports (for elderly and disabled), once those start up again.
On a better note, on Friday evening, over 80 ladies from our local town got together for a Quiz Night at a local cafe, and collectivly raised $2,400 NZD for Liubov. We told her about it last night, and she asked me to give her heartfelt thanks and appreciation to each and every one of you who have donated here, or through the Quiz Night. We are all blown away by the support that we are getting from our community, both near and far.
I'll try to do better posting more updates, and of course will post if anything changes - but for the moment, we wait.
Thank you again - Christine and Vlad
Wanted to share a quick update with you. Some good news - we were able to successfully transfer just over 40,000 Ukrainian Hryvna to Liubov over the past week or so, across multiple money transfers. That's about NZD $2,000 that she has now in cash in her pocket.
Many international money transfer services, including the one we regularly use, have waived their fees for sending money to Ukraine. This means that all of the money goes directly to our family members, nothing is taken by the transfer company, and that makes a difference for the recipient. It's encouraging to see businesses put people before profits in this situation.
Liubov is now just waiting for a window in the fighting for it to be safe enough for her to leave. We don't know how long it will take, and honestly it sometimes feels like things are dragging along when I'd rather things move along faster. But in this case, faster is not better. She needs to go at the safest moment.
I know that once we get to that moment, things will go very fast - and I'll keep you updated on any changes to the situation.
In the mean time, I found a photo from Pascha 2013 that really speaks to our homeland. The basket in the background is our family Easter basket that we would take to church for a blessing each Easter. The embroidery, the basket cover, I made by hand as a young bride in Kiyv. I would work on it a little every day and it took me almost a year to finish it - the design is from the Transcarpathian mountain region of Western Ukraine, near my paternal grandmother's birthplace, Rostoka. My daughter-in-law and I made the pysanky, and the pascha cheese was made using a cheese mold that my brother made, that's based on the mold that I inherited from my parents (who had inherited it from an old family friend). And the kulich (the bread), was actually homemade that year. All of these traditions that we carry on from Ukraine, keeps our connections strong even though we're so far away.
Looking forward to having Liubov with us for Easter next year.
Earlier today, with your support, we've been able to meet what we originally thought was an outlandish fundraising target for Liubov's evacuation from Kharkiv: NZD $12,000. This will go a long way in helping to offset the immediate evacuation costs for Liubov, and I can't thank you all enough for your support - when we all give a little, we can collectively give a lot.
When we spoke to Liubov about an hour ago, I noticed a small shift in her word choice that indicated a huge mental shift. Before, she spoke about, "IF I come to you in New Zealand", but today for the first time she said, "WHEN I come to you in New Zealand." She allowed herself to be highly engaged in our discussion about departure timing, route options, what she should leave or bring, who would she stay with based on the different routes.
We were also able to start thinking about what she will need immediately when we get to her - some of those things are very basic like shoes and clothing. The shoes she has on her feet now, are the only ones she owns now, as are the few bits of clothing she has with her. We all take for granted the little things that make up our daily lives that she will need to replace - things like socks, pyjamas, rain boots and coat.
So because of that, we've decided to leave this donation page open a while longer in case anyone wanted to help support her that hadn't already. As we've said before, all the funds from this are going to help offset the travel costs associated with her evacuation from Kharkiv, and if there are any funds remaing, they go directly to Liubov, so she can get the basic things she needs to feel a little more human again.
We still don't know for sure when it will be safe enough for her to leave Kharkiv, or exactly which direction she'll be heading, but thank to you, we will be ready to swing into action when the moment is right. And of course, we will update you when it happens.
The photo I'm sharing with this update is from about 2004 or 5. It's of my twins, Daniil and Anya (sorry for embarassing you both) when they were dancing with Zorya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble (in Dallas USA). Ukrainian dance was a fixture in our lives for many, many years. My mother made my siblings do it, and I made my kids do it too. Just like the pysanky eggs that I do, folk dance is kind of in our blood. Dance was used as a way for our ancestors to stay fit and of course celebrate. The shirts that both are wearing, my mother-in-law and I bought together in Kharkiv, and I always am reminded of her and our joint shopping trips to find the different pieces I needed for the various costumes over the years.
I know we'll probably never be able to go on one of those shopping adventures in Kharkiv again. Our memories of Kharkiv will hold us best when we are able to hold Liubov in our arms again.
Thank you all again,
Christine and Vlad
Today is Easter Sunday, or Pascha, in Kharkiv. The eastern Orthodox churches follow the Julien calendar, not the Gregorian calendar like we do in the West. For those of us from that part of the world, Pascha is the biggest holiday of the year. It's a time for hope and renewal, but of course this year is very different for Liubov.
As a family, we still carry on many of our pre-Christian traditions such as writing pysanky, or Ukrainian Easter Eggs. This year, Pascha is just one more day sheltering, waiting for a window in the fighting so it's safe enough to leave. There are no eggs, no sweet kulich bread nor cheese spread. No going to the midnight services to have our Easter baskets blessed.
Thank you to everyone who has helped to get us to the halfway mark for Liubov. I see each contribution as a beautiful pysanka - covered with well wishes and good intentions for her.
We shared the news of getting to the halfway point with her last night and she was absolutely shocked at the support you have all given her, and sends you all her deepest gratitude.
This effort has also given her the encouragement that she's mentally needed to start seriously discussing where she will want to try to cross the border. Before this point she didn't have enough hope, so she was reluctant to even discuss the options we may have now.
But, we're not there yet. Please continue to share Liubov's story. Any time you hear someone say, "I wish I could help those poor people", tell them you know a way that they can help a specific person who is there and share this link.
Thank you again for your support - it's provided not just financial support for her evacuation, but it's already helping her mental wellbeing - it's giving her hope.
Speaking of hope, I’ve included a photo of a few pysanky that I wrote a few years back. The designs and colours are meant to bring joy and happiness to the recipient. And while we have no way to physically give you each a pysanka, we hope this photo will also bring you joy this Pascha, and also hope for Liubov’s evacuation and peace in the region.
Христос Воскрес! Воістину Воскрес!
Christine and Vlad
