Day 1: A Smile and Hello can Make All the Difference... and sometimes a mustache too

By John Ross · Ukraine, Romania

Sometimes a smile, hello, and a mustache can make all the difference.

Alec and I (John) were the first two to arrive in Bucharest. I met Alex at arrivals and we made our way to our Gate downstairs. We found a corner table at the café. Alex, rocking a fresh thick mustache spotted another thick mustache wearing guy walking by and said, “Hey, where you from?”

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Meet Jack

‘We were driving around mines and dead bodies… and had to delete the photos from our phone because if the soldiers caught us with those, they’d shoot us right there. I was told at the Russian post that I’d be shot if I had any photos on my phone.’ “I am from Ukraine, from a beautiful city by the sea Mariupol. When the war began, I moved from my district to another, as they were already starting to shoot at our city. We were shelled for a very long time, we hid in a small basement. On March 13, we decided to leave the city with prayers, then there were no green corridors. We didn’t know about it, because we were cut off from the whole world, there was no light, no water, no communication. We prayed for a very long time and trusted the Lord. And we decided to leave. At the exit from Mariupol, there were mines, grenades, the corpses of the military, we only left with God’s help from there. When we arrived to a safe place, we drove for two days. The pastor of the local church received us and sheltered us. Then, through believers, we learned about this place, and came here (Emaus Center) to wait for my wife and children who are now making passports. From the very beginning of the war, I understood a lot, I didn’t pray often in my life, I wasn’t often at home, I devoted little time to my family, this is all wrong. Wherever I was, a shell could fly at any moment, but God heard my prayers, covered me and my family in His palms, and protected me all this way from Mariupol to Suceava.”

Meet Petrisor

When our team arrived in Suceava, the team was greeted at the airport by a young man named Petrisor (Peter). Maybe some of us thought it was his job to pick us up, that he possibly worked for the nonprofit we were partnering with and was paid to be a driver. But as we got to know Peter, we learned that he already had a business, and a farm, and a wife… and him greeting us at midnight and throughout the day was just some of what made Peter so special.

Meet Anastasia

Born in Donetsk, part of Eastern Ukraine, Anastasia has been a refugee since 2014. “For me the war started 8 years ago.” Anastasia was born in a Russian speaking family. “More than 30 years ago, most people in the eastern part were Russian speaking. That was the main myth that Russian propaganda is made with. That there are Russian speaking people in Ukraine. Second part of myth is that Ukrainian speaking people are Nazis. Russia then used that myth to explain why Russian speaking Ukrainians needed protection. Though I was born in a Russian speaking family, I’ve never considered myself to be Russian. I have always been Ukrainian. I love Ukraine. My homeland is Ukraine.”