by Edith Cody-Rice
Left to Right: Vitalina and Ingrid in Ingrid’s garden.
Vitalina is a young Ukrainian artist, now 21 years old. She has been living in Almonte for a year. In Ukraine, she attended an art college to train in fine arts and before leaving Ukraine was an art teacher.
Vitalina lived with her father, mother and two sisters (10 years and 7 years old) in a community south of Lviv. Although Russians hadn’t invaded her town, there was a constant danger of air attacks from Russia, particularly as her home was near a nuclear power plant. Interruptions in electricity were frequent. A friend who had emigrated to Ottawa wanted Vitalina to join her.
In 2022, she decided to leave Ukraine.With her friend’s encouragement, Vitalina started filling out the documentation for emigration to Canada. As instruction in English was mandatory in Ukrainian schools she was able to read and write the language, but could not speak or understand spoken English. In June of 2023, she was able to purchase a plane ticket from Warsaw to Ottawa through an app in Ukraine.
Vitalina left Ukraine by bus to travel fourteen hours to Warsaw, with one suitcase and $700 in cash. She does not speak Polish, but she showed her ticket to an agent at the airport in order to board a plane to Austria and on to Montreal. When she arrived in Montreal at 2 pm. two days later, she had not slept for two nights.
And then chance entered the picture. Vitalina was snoozing in a chair in the waiting room with her boarding pass to Ottawa on her lap. Ingrid, who was returning from a family visit to Holland and who was booked on the same Montreal-Ottawa flight, sat down in the only available waiting room chair, next to Vitalina. She noticed the boarding pass on Vitalina’s lap and said “you know that flight has been canceled”. “What means canceled?” queried Vitalina sleepily. Here was a young woman stuck in an airport in Canada, without the ability to speak or understand English or French, with no familiarity with the country or where to go to get help. Ingrid immediately took Vitalina under her wing and guided her to an agent to book an onward flight for both of them. There was one flight, but only one seat left and Ingrid advised the flight agent that she did not want to leave the young woman alone, so they booked a late night flight to Toronto and then on to Ottawa. Vitalina says that it was at this point that she decided to trust Ingrid because she did not want to leave her alone. They arrived in Ottawa at 3 am, but”no luggage”. Everything Vitalina possessed was in her checked baggage which did not arrive. After a long wait, the baggage agent told them that he had located Vitalina’s suitcase. Luckily, she had had to go through customs in Montreal so there was a record of her bag there.
What to do now? At 3 am it was impractical to look for accommodation for Vitalina in Ottawa so Ingrid invited her home to Almonte where she stayed for nine weeks. Shortly thereafter, while refugees in Ottawa stood in long lines waiting for documentation, Ingrid took her charge to Kemptville where she obtained a SIN number and OHIP number and opened a bank account in short order and without incident. Ingrid then helped compose a resume and distributed it for Vitalina to businesses in town. Ingrid also attended potential rooming houses with Vitalina in Ottawa and after seeing the poor conditions and exorbitant prices being charged, she brought Vitalina back to Almonte where she now lives happily. After part time stints at Dandelion Foods and Orchardview Retirement Community, Vitalina has found full time work at Orchardview. She says she loves it there.
Vitalina’s first love is art. She does oil painting and drawings and ideally would like to make a living as an artist, a challenge for any artist.
This is a story which could have been tragic but which, thanks to Ingrid, has had a happy ending. Ingrid is now Vitalina’s friend and mentor while she settles into her new life in Canada. Her mother and siblings would like to join her but Vitalina is concerned about rental rates in Canada and feels that it would be a struggle to support them here.
The portraits below are samples of Vitalina’s work.
