Her life is wonderful.
She has a lot of friends,
she has many activities. But
when you think about your future,
it's every step, everyday step.
You're scary
mothers. Never show to children how hard for them to
be here.
They left husbands. They left everything in Ukraine.
The first people here came in April or May,
right comes next May, they will have to pack their
bags and go back.
But the question is go back where?
In Ukraine the life was perfect
because it was calm and it was comfortable
and all my small girls family were together.
We live near the sea in Odessa and we have
something like a picnic
at the beach. It is my mom,
my daughter.
It was 24 of February.
I was my daughter was in Odessa.
My husband visited his relatives in Mariupa
and at 5 AMI
heard that some some explosion
again and again, again and again.
And then I take my phone and I see that
my friends from Hakim and from Mariupol,
from her son chat that
the war was started
breaking news after the US warned all day of a
full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that it was imminent.
Looks like the darkest day has come to pass following
this speech by Vladimir Putin.
Were seen in hurt in cities across the country.
It was very scary.
I know that I pregnant where it was February 24
when the war was started.
It is the first day of war.
I did the test and I see the results when
I package my luggage.
One of the beautiful day and one of the worst
day in our life.
It was a very hard decision to left your home,
your country, your relatives.
And
I had to leave
because
I had to survive
and
to give a new life.
Klein Life is is about 50 years old.
It's it's opened in 1975
and it it opened as a Jewish Community Center and
it's still official.
It's a Jewish Community Center.
But you know, we are much more of a social
service agency at this point.
I was born in Harkov,
in Ukraine, when when it was still a part of
the Soviet Union.
And I came here in
1989 as a refugee. I'm
from Rostovan, Dan, from Russia.
I was born in Rostov Dan.
I came in 1997, October 31st.
They brought us to climb life.
This neighborhood is interesting because now it has the highest
concentration of immigrants in the in the city of Philadelphia,
about 40% of people who live around here are immigrants.
This building is kind of it's it's real,
it's real Community Center.
I like
to tell people this is
like a
real castle for children.
Every evening we have around 700 children in the building.
Aha, do not run.
I'm sorry.
So when first refugees went,
first mothers came. It was May,
May 2022. It was a group of mothers with children.
And I got idea. Suddenly I got idea and they
and they came to Andre's office and I told him,
can we take these children for free for camp,
for summer camp. I called my board and I said,
I said guys, you know,
this is not, this is not really kind of a
Jewish program.
But you know, here's the refugees and they're coming and
we need to do something for them.
And I said, you know,
how about raising $40,000? So lo and behold,
we raised, we raised about
130,000. So we were able to take over 60 kids.
I wanted to see kids behaving like kids because when
they when they came in,
they were like really in the rough shape.
When kids were playing outside and the plane would take
off,
the children would do this and then hit the ground,
which was a really tough thing to to see.
So the kids here identify as refugees from Ukraine.
And most recently there are a couple kids who came
here from Israel.
We're doing a therapeutic art group
and today we're going to be making peace signs with
the kids and exploring what peace means to them.
This
for my daughter,
adaptation was hard and she's very smart girl.
She understands all. We have relatives from Russia
and she can't understand what's going on and
why her father
not with us,
why mom crying all the time.
It was hard and she was in stress and when
we came here
she said it is like
small part of Ukraine. It is my like second home.
I like whole girl but yeah,
but it's a special girl.
She's so, so kind girl,
very talented.
I still like to be here so far at the
stage.
It is very wonderful because
and this very difficult time for
for our family and for Ukraine.
You're very happy when your child is happy
in life. It is like a small island
of peace and happy and childhood for for us.
So I'm trying to give her
in this condition the best
many, many Ukrainians, 10s of thousands
were able to utilize the United for Ukraine program in
order to enter the United States with parole.
Most of those individuals were admitted for two year periods
of stay.
Now the kids have been to school for for two
years,
right? So they're started kind of they're speaking English,
they're making friends and now you take them and and
and telling them,
you know go back
Maria, she has more difficult story because she didn't get
you for you
because she came with a visa.
She came like pregnant woman.
The individuals that had a visa at the time that
the war started were able to come to the United
States much faster than those who eventually needed to wait
for the United for Ukraine program.
The downside to having a visa is that with a
tourist visa you are not authorized to work in the
United States.
Tourists
don't have any Social Security,
they are permit. I can't attend
any job. I don't have any driver license.
Even in this moment after
tourist visa, one of the lawyers admit that only you
have only one way to go to student visa.
I said that I don't have the money to pay
for every day and I have an infant.
How I can to attend,
but I had to do it.
My grandma helped me when I had to go to
my study. She is sitting with my baby.
Ukraine is designated for Temporary protected status.
The US government has extended the dates so Temporary Protected
Status for Ukrainians ends on April 19th of
2025. At least at this juncture,
TPS seems to be the de facto extension of the
United for Ukraine program.
It's likely that the designation for Ukraine will be extended
certainly until the war is over,
and probably even for a minimum period of 18 months
after the war is over.
In order to allow Ukraine an opportunity to rebuild
this moment, I applied to TPS
and I waited this status.
I hope that
we receive it in future and I can't go to
the job. If I can't join to TBS.
I think I had. I will have to live,
yes, because life is too,
too hard and a lot of money for rents for
for students, payments for.
It's not easy. Our life
here,
most Ukrainians that I know are very,
very proud people that had
wonderful, decent lives in Ukraine before the war.
So many individuals do want to go back to Ukraine
at some point.
They they still have family there,
businesses and other ties to the country.
Other Ukrainians aren't, you know,
hopeful that they will be able to spend the rest
of their life
in a safe environment in Ukraine,
even if the war is over,
you want to go home.
You want to
roll the day
when everything was was good and you have a peace
life.
Your life
is perfect, I think for for child.
But
she still want to go home.
We can do it, you know
we want to go home.
If Desa
still
still will be Ukrainian city.
We go
home and the war will end.