Oksana, a law professor from Odessa, is teaching a kindergarten class for Ukrainian refugee children in Bulgaria, having left her home city for her own safety. 

She and her son escaped along with Alina and her daughter when Blythswood’s partners from Bulgaria delivered a minibus-load of humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian border, and were able to offer the women and children a lift back across Romania.

Along with another pastor from Nova Zagora, Pastor Stoyan Slavchev has made several trips from Sliven, Bulgaria, to Ukraine, and the two women with their children were among many refugees who have been thankful for the opportunity to escape the war zone.

“Their husbands were not allowed to leave the country,” explains Stoyan’s wife, Zhani.  “These two families shared a house here in Sliven for three months, and we were able to help them with their bills for water and electricity, and also with food, clothes and toys for the children.

“Now Oksana is teaching near the Black Sea and Alina and her daughter have gone to be with her sister in Moscow.”