Weyburn family hosting Ukrainian mother and son

By Trillian Reynoldson

Saskatchewan welcomed another 167 Ukrainian citizens on Wednesday, when two flights arrived in Regina.

A few of them are coming to Weyburn, including Yana Hotie and her son, Artem.

Weyburn resident Olena Khorolets and her husband, who are originally from Ukraine, have decided to host the mother and son.

“Even though we’ve been here for 10 years, we’re trying to help as much as we can,” Olena said. “So we made a decision to help this family get here and just get them more familiar with the environment, with the culture, and help them to organize a possible future place of staying.”

Khorolets said when they moved to Canada, they noticed how friendly everyone was, and how many opportunities there were.

“As part of us is Ukrainian and the other part is Canadian, we definitely want to help people and just get them comfortable,” she said. “I feel like helping is what we can do right now.”

She added it’s helpful she and her husband can speak Ukrainian for clear communication with their new guests.

“That’s definitely going to help because they don’t speak English very well, and they’ll be in a new country and new environment,” Khorolets said.

Khorolets said she had bought plane tickets for the two to come to Canada in September to escape the war, but then Hotie applied for a free plane ride in order to come sooner.

“This journey was quite difficult for them because they travelled from Ukraine and escaped, and she said when she was in Ukraine, she wrote on her son’s bag with marker all of the phone numbers of close relatives. She said ‘in case I wouldn’t make it.’ Honestly, when she wrote this message to me, I was just crying,” Khorolets said.

Khorolets is thankful to the community of Weyburn, all Canadians, and especially everyone helping with the situation in Ukraine.