Ukrainian family comes to Walla Walla Valley, finds refuge from war

Published 9:00 am Friday, February 17, 2023

Dasha Kozachuk untangles her hair from the fingers of her brother, Matthew, on Jan. 10, 2023, at the home they are staying at in the Walla Walla Valley.

TOUCHET, Wash. — The Walla Walla Valley is where the Ukrainian family of Anton Kozachuk, his wife Viktoriia, and their two children, Dasha and Matthew, have found refuge during the past three months while their homeland continues to be decimated by the ongoing conflict with Russia.

War kept the Kozachuks apart for most of 2022. Anton was already out at sea working aboard a shipping vessel when Russia launched its offensive Feb. 24, 2022. Any hope of a return home was out of the question.

Thus, he missed the birth of his son. Matthew entered the world in August inside a vacant bomb shelter. Viktoriia and a doctor were the only people present. No nurses, no other staff.

Not until November would the Kozachuks finally reunite — and that was a rendezvous in the neighboring Eastern European country of Moldova for their flight to the United States.

Touchet is where the Kozachuks now reside peacefully, sharing the home of Jim and Carmelle Boyd.

“We’re happy here because we feel safe,” Viktoriia said.

Coming to the Walla Walla Valley occurred through a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services program titled Uniting for Ukraine. The program connected them to folks in the region who had teamed up more than a year ago with the idea of sheltering an entire family victimized by war in another country.

The Kozachuks used to live in the Ukrainian region of Odesa. They liken the size of their old hometown to that of College Place (population 9,855).

But the nearby city of Odesa is a major seaport with its population exceeding one million — and it’s been the target of multiple shelling and air strikes by the Russian military.

“When the war began in Ukraine, people began to leave their homes en masse,” Viktoriia explained through a translation app on her phone.

Desperate for a way to join the exodus, the Kozachuks grew hopeful in August when they learned of Uniting for Ukraine. Viktoriia applied on behalf of her family, but a long wait ensued before she was connected in October with Milton-Freewater resident Marci Evans.

It was Evans who brought together the Walla Walla Valley households now supporting the Kozachuks.

“If not for Marci, we would not have been able to get to America,” Viktoriia said.

Evans had gotten the ball rolling with a post on social media back on Dec. 15, 2021. At that time, Russia had not yet started sending its forces into Ukraine.

Her inspiration had come from a Pakistani man she met when her daughter married a Muslim. Talking to the friend of her new son-in-law, she learned he was active in helping Afghans who suffered under the oppressive regime of Taliban militants.

He introduced Evans to Sponsor Circles, an organization that helps people in the U.S. rescue refugees around the world.

“’Is there anyone in our community who is interested in helping Afghans?’” Evans read aloud a year later off her computer screen, scrolled down to her post on the Facebook page titled Taking Back Our Little Town of M-F. “‘Many have evacuated Afghanistan but still need assistance in the resettlement process. I’m trying to find a group in my little town that is excited to help by becoming involved. I’ve looked into how I can help and hit lots of dead ends. Now, I’ve found a way. Anyone want to join me?’”

That’s how it started, she said.

It wasn’t long before Evans had recruited an enthusiastic team of local humanitarians.

Their effort hit a snag in October. Sponsor Circles had removed applications for those wanting to help Afghans. But the web page did offer a link to Uniting for Ukraine.

Evans said Art King, of College Place, suggested to their team that they switch gears.

A quick decision was made to help a Ukrainian family.

“I said to a couple of people, ‘Watch. It’ll be somebody from Odesa,’” Evans said. “Odesa was where my grandma came from in the 1800s. She was a Jew escaping persecution at the time.”

Not long after submitting their Uniting for Ukraine application, Evans was put in touch with Viktoriia Kozachuk.

“Right away, we start conversing and emailing back,” Evans said. “I said, ‘Where in the Ukraine are you from? She’s like, ‘Odesa.’

“I got chills like I’m going to cry.”

Viktoriia was just as emotional.

“When I had filled out an application but did not get any results, I lost hope that I would find sponsors,” she said. “Somehow, God sent us Marci. I still don’t understand how it happened.”

Life in Walla Walla Valley

Not a day goes by when their friends in the Walla Walla Valley haven’t heard the Kozachuks sharing their appreciation for the chance to live safely.

Upon their arrival, they enrolled Dasha at Rogers Adventist School in College Place. She could already speak English, having taken courses while in the Ukraine — her parents hope to catch up soon as they have started their own classes.

An eighth grader at Rogers, she also continues her full-time Ukrainian studies with 17 courses taken online.

Anton set about getting a job to support his family. His refugee status enables him to join the American workforce. He filed for a Social Security number.

His degree in marine engineering had him doing contract work the last nine years on Ukrainian shipping vessels with bulk cargo such as coal and grain.

The career took Anton to ports around the world. San Francisco and Sacramento were some North American cities he had visited previously, though they were brief stops and he had barely left the ships.

“The government changed the rules and said if you’re here on refugee parole you have a work permit,” King said. “He really wants to get a job and go to work. He is a ship engineer. He knows diesel mechanics. I believe he’s going to have no problem finding work.

“He’s very motivated to do it, and now he can do it.”

In the meantime, the Boyds welcomed the Kozachuks into their Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.

The Boyds have provided the Kozachuks with housing for as long as they’d like, though Evans said she would like to help them get a place of their own.

Evans contacted Carmelle Boyd shortly after connecting with Viktoriia.

She had seen images Carmelle would post on social media when she had made pierogies, an Eastern European dish, so Evans reached out.

“I said, ‘Carmelle, do you think you can make pierogies when they arrive, like a welcoming dinner?’” Evans said. “She says, ‘What’s happening?’ I told her, and she says, ‘Oh yes, I’d love to do that.’ And then she goes, ‘We’d love for them to live with us.’ I didn’t call her to ask her any of those questions. I called her for one thing: pierogies.”

King encourages folks to help more Ukrainian refugees.

“The key message we want to communicate is that this is easy now, and that anybody can do this,” King said. “Any group can get together around a table, fill these things out, and say, ‘We’re willing to sponsor’ and get somebody. It’s not hard. We would be thrilled if there were 10 more groups in the Walla Walla Valley that would get started.

“It is not complicated. Any five people could do it. I think 10 is better, but it doesn’t take a big group. The bureaucracy is not intimidating, and there are vast numbers of Ukrainians waiting.”

Since the Kozachuks have been here, the U.S. government has announced plans for more aid to Ukraine.

Viktoriia said she just hopes for an end to the war.

“Many thanks to America for helping the Ukrainian people and the whole country in general — and the defense of us ordinary people,” she said. “Of course, I want more so that there is no war and that we people can just live in peace and not need help protecting our family.”

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