Translating Stories of Hope
Thrive Center Stories: Anna (Assistant Manager at Thrive Center)
By Nara Shin
Anna Bondarenko is the Assistant Manager of Thrive Center. Coming to Spokane as a refugee in her younger life, Anna has used her background and bilingual skills to serve the Thrive community since June 2022. Today, we met Anna to talk about her journey in joining the Thrive International team and her experience at Thrive Center as the assistant manager.
How would you describe your role at the Thrive Center as an Assistant Manager?
Anna: I assist the general manager and take the role of communication in our house. I am the one who hears resident issues and problems most of the time. I manage the waitlist and move-in/move-out process and coordinate with people once available rooms are ready.
What has your journey looked like before becoming a part of Thrive International?
Anna: When I was nine, my parents brought me to Spokane. I come from Kyrgyzstan, but I am ethnically Ukrainian. My father's family was exiled from Ukraine into Kyrgyzstan during or after World War Two because of religious persecution and beliefs.
When I was 17, my first job was as a receptionist at World Relief. So I've been in the refugee world for many, many years. And so I worked for World Relief for about ten years and returned to school. Then I was the director of refugee connections for about two to three and a half years. And then, I went overseas as a missionary for a year and a half in the Czech Republic. I was working with Russian-speaking people because I didn't have time to learn the culture and the language, but I could impact the people I could relate to the most.
I returned to a place where I belong; to a setting where I belong—helping refugees. Empowering refugees: I know it's my destiny.
Anna Bondarenko, Assistant Manager at Thrive Center
After I went to the Czech Republic, I returned, and for about five years, I was entirely out of the refugee world. I worked for Spokane Transit Authority. Then I did another public service job, not related to refugees at all. And then the Ukrainian conflict began - when people started crossing the border - I became a part of the Ukrainian Relief Coalition (URC). The URC was just a bunch of us young adults who had our jobs and personal lives. We came together to address this crisis because there were no organizations that provided services for the people who were crossing the border. And so that meant that we became a virtual resettling agency. I love people. So I could call up many people and be like, "hey, what do we do here? How do we do that? What do we do?" to build better environments for Ukrainian refugees.
Then, Thrive happened, and so many things developed in my life. I returned to a place where I belong; to a setting where I belong—helping refugees. Empowering refugees: I know it's my destiny. My calling like this has been confirmed because I've been off a little bit doing other things and learned that this is what I want to do.
In which way do you think your background as a refugee impacted your life or changed your perspective?
Anna: My background has allowed me to be brave. I'm not afraid to ask difficult questions because of how I was raised and the questions I needed to address in my family, so I'm not afraid of asking difficult questions. I'm confident in giving answers to complex questions. My experience here has taught me how to say ‘no’ because of how I've struggled. I'm saying ‘no’ because I've been more of a helper in my life. But my role now - I have to know how to gauge helping and saying no so that I can set boundaries while helping others.
I am the oldest of my siblings. I was the first person who learned the English language. So I have been the tongue of my family for many years as the oldest refugee kid. My father speaks English, but my mother -not so much. I was young, but I was placed in a position of resolving and solving everybody's issues for my family. I remember when I was 11, but my dad took me to his mortgage meeting, and I was the interpreter. Also, I translate lots of things for my grandmother and all their stuff regarding business. So all of this - being part of everybody's business - has given me the tools to be successful in what I'm doing now. I'm doing the same thing I've been doing for my family for many years.
I want to empower these people to function as individuals because I want to take on the shield and maybe take on things that refugee parents would rely on their kids for because I don't want their kids to be part of that. Because honestly, I didn't have a childhood. I was always responsible for things for my family because they did not speak English well. So in my position now - if I can take off that burden of these kids - I want to. I want to empower the parents and be like, "Hey, go to school. Hey, you know how to do this. Okay?”
What do you enjoy the most while working at the Thrive Center?
Anna: People. Meeting people. I just love people. And we have so many different people here at Thrive Center. And you constantly have to change whenever the vibes change in the group. When people change, their attitudes and expectations change. I love that. It's frustrating sometimes too, but I love the vibrancy of individuals in the center.
Anna with Lidia Pauline (General Manager at Thrive Center).
Why do you think Thrive is meaningful to the Spokane community and you?
Anna: Thrive can assess the situation, figure out an answer, and resolve it quickly. And so this is why it's beautiful because we're able to - you know - cover the gaps that were missing as far as refugees' affordable housing or just temporary housing; because it's always been an issue. It's also beautiful because we are here to empower. We're living our mission. We are empowering people, helping people, and helping people from surviving to thriving. Theory can get you far, but action can get you further. This is why Thrive is beautiful because here in Spokane, we're not only using theory, but we're putting it into action. I'm excited to be part of Thrive because I am a doer.
What is one incident or story in the Thrive Center you would never forget?
Anna: Well, there are so many stories because the vibrance of people is so different, and there's always somebody coming to share a specific piece of their story of a life that impacts me differently: little children, a grandpa who sweeps the parking lot because he wants to, and little videos parents send me when kids are having fun. However, I do have one story that I vividly remember.
I had a resident just in the summer, and when she walked in, I made this comment like, "Welcome to our house!" And she said something along the lines of, "No, this is the ark, the ark of salvation." That, for me, was like, whoa, like, I never thought of it that. It was a resident who came from a war zone - she had tears in her eyes - and I thought, This is so beautiful because it's true. It's like the ark of hope. It's the ark of a possible future. It's like this building in the middle of a city where people hold their hopes, desires, and dreams.