Kiladze family
Background information re: family’s struggle to escape Ukraine and arrive in Keremeos
Ukraine Nightingale Project, a South Okanagan Ukraine Support Group, has achieved the goal of bringing another family from the war in Ukraine to the safety of the South Okanagan. This has been a struggle over seven months. Midge and Jim Wyse, of Burrowing Owl Winery, have generously made a house available for the family in Keremeos and it has been readied and available since January. They are arriving at the Penticton airport on Tuesday, July 4th. The family of four, born in Georgia, have spent the last 25 years in the Kherson region as grain farmers. When the Russian army burned out their farm, they fled back to the country of their birth, as they still have some family there. (Ironically, they fled Georgia as young children when Russia invaded.) Unfortunately, they were not permitted to work in Georgia, and the children could not attend school.
The long wait has been very difficult, and matters were made worse due to a mixup with the issuing of CUAETS visas and misplaced passports. The process involves individuals surrendering their passport to a Visa Application Center who then forward the passport to the closest Canadian Embassy, in this case, Ankara, Turkey. Once the passport is received, and the visa “pasted” into the passport, it is returned to the applicant. In the case of this family, the father’s passport was sent from the VAC Centre in Tbilisi and was received at the Canadian Embassy in Ankara in January. From that point on, all communications broke down and the situation seemed pretty hopeless.
UNP and the Wyse’s decided to reach out to our MP, Richard Cannings for help. Mr. Cannings and his assistant, Jula Sukumar, both worked every angle we could think of, and ultimately decided to involve Immigration Minister, Sean Fraser’s office. After a couple of months, the passport and visa were located and sent back to the VAC in Tbilisi. UNP was anxious to get the family to Keremeos to the support of our volunteers there, and the decision was made to assist with travel plans and airline tickets for the family. This family have close relatives that are currently with a host family on Mayne Island. The two families are joyously awaiting a reunion which we hope will happen soon.
The origin of Ukraine Nightingale Project was in the Oliver area, as our first family of seven arrived there last fall. That family, with the assistance of our Oliver volunteers, has fared very well, and are now pretty much independent. Since then, UNP has been assisting five other families with varying needs, in the Penticton area.
Because of this shift to Penticton, we have found it necessary to try and recruit more volunteers in the Penticton area. The volunteer duties that we need would cover a wide range of skill sets. In addition to drivers and companions, UNP needs researchers that can find and update information that is relevant to Ukrainian newcomers. We need someone to update and control our social media. Executive positions, such as recording secretary, and fund raising are also very much needed. If you have time, and the capacity to assist, UNP would welcome you to join us in this very necessary and rewarding work.
You may contact UNP directly at [email protected] or you may fill in a volunteer intake form found on our website ukrainenightingaleproject.ca