Thrive Center Stories: Anya

Anya and her family are a few of the 170 residents at the Thrive Center in Spokane, Washington.

They are from Mariupol, Ukraine.

Soon after the Russian invasion, Mariupol's population of 430,000 dropped to 100,000 within weeks. Anya, her husband Michael, and two young sons Yelysei and Gabriel were part of that exodus. When all the stores in the city shut down almost overnight, including gas stations and grocery stores, they realized that Mariupol was no longer safe for families. It was painful to leave their hometown; they were business owners and had built a house with their own hands, never thinking they would have to leave it behind.

Loading what they could take in their car, they set out for a neighboring city, hoping there would be a working gas station to fuel their journey out of the country. Passing active military zones and hearing explosions in the distance, they drove past burning vehicles on the side of the road and watched as their gas gauge slowly fell to empty. They prayed they could make it out of the war zone before running out of gas.

Thankfully, they coasted into the next small town and were able to refuel and prepare for the journey. Military curfews restricted night travel, and traffic jams stretched between cities, allowing them only to cover around 100 miles per day as they inched toward western Ukraine. On one part of their journey, they spent 36 hours stuck in sprawling traffic, barely moving.

Finally, they arrived in Chernivtsi, where they met a family who welcomed them into their home for a short time. Although this was an answer to their prayers for safety, they knew they couldn't stay for long; they began to plan to get out of the country. Anna and the children would head to Germany while her husband would stay behind and volunteer with relief efforts until he could join them.

“We had everything until the war came to our country and our city.”

-Anya

Making another difficult decision, they parted ways. The road to Germany was challenging for Anna. The icy and congested roads left her cold and tired. Her children got sick; her youngest cried continually from the back seat with a fever. She had been awake for three days when she finally reached the German border. Now alone with two sick children and no way to communicate, Anya felt isolated and adrift; and afraid for her husband's safety. For the next three weeks, she waited on word from Michael and watched the news as her city and country continued to unravel.

Michael finally met them in Germany but had brought a friend with him. While volunteering in Ukraine, he met an American also doing relief work. Michael told him the story of his wife and two children waiting for him in Germany, hoping to get to the United States. Being moved by their story, the American bought plane tickets for Michael, Anya, and her children.

In the early days of the war, there was no direct route into America for Ukrainian refugees. Instead, many Ukrainians came to Mexico. From there, they could cross the border on humanitarian parole, which Anya and her family did.

After long flights from Germany, Madrid, and eventually Mexico City, they made their way to Tijuana, where American volunteers met them, many of them former Ukrainian immigrants. From the Mexican border, they traveled to Spokane, where they would find shelter and assistance at Thrive Center.

Anya’s son, Yelysei plays at Thrive Center.

At Thrive Center, Anya and her husband were finally able to rest. They could finally process the mental, physical and spiritual toll the journey had taken on them and be with others who had traveled just as far with similar stories, stories that were about surviving the best they could while on the run.

Now at Thrive Center, Anya's family doesn't have to simply 'survive'; they can thrive. Although far from their house in Ukraine, they are closest to home than they've been since the war began.