Underneath a white tent near the El Cid statue in Balboa Park, a small group of Ukrainian men and women gathered on a Sunday afternoon and reminded strolling visitors of the struggles of their war-torn country. Placards propped against a table demanded attention: Freedom is not free; Stand up for Ukraine; y Thank you USA for standing with Ukraine!
“Glory to Ukraine!” a man shouted into a microphone. A few onlookers yelled the words back to him. “Glory to the heroes fighting Russia!” he shouted again. “Glory to the heroes who fight Russia!” echoed the onlookers.
The man fell silent as a band prepared to play the Ukrainian national anthem. Ivan Chaban, 18, stood behind the band and watched. He lost part of his right leg in the war. More people walked past and paused at a photograph titled Day 38 of defending freedom. It showed a monument in Kharkiv covered with sandbags.
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, 2022, Chaban had been living with his mother, stepfather and five siblings in a small village in northeastern Ukraine. Every television station showed the attack. He wasn’t scared because his village was so isolated the Russian troops had no need to enter it. However, the Russians blocked roads and made it difficult to travel for food. One month after the war started, Chaban's family had only potatoes to eat.
Desperate, Chabon, his mother and stepfather walked four hours to Buryn, a city they heard had food. Russian soldiers stopped them at checkpoints and searched their bags. A family with a car offered them a ride. When they reached Buryn, they bought as much food as they could carry. On their walk back home, a Russian military column drove up behind them. Chaban does not know if a tank struck him or a vehicle. Whatever it was tossed him in the air. When he fell to the ground, he wondered if he was dead. His mother and stepfather were also injured.
An ambulance transported them to a hospital where Chaban’s stepfather died. Doctors amputated Chaban’s right leg below the knee. He was not upset by the operation, he remembered, just tired. At first he thought he was dreaming and he would wake up and be home. After the surgery he tried to stay positive. He thought, “I will need only one sock from now sobre. I’m different. I'm special.”
The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C., the San Diego-based House Of Ukraine and Right to Walk Foundation partnered to bring Chaban to California in Sept. 2022. He was fitted for a prosthetic leg at Peter Harsch Prosthetics in Mira Mesa and now lives with a legal guardian in San Diego. Chaban’s mother recovered from her injuries but remained in Ukraine with his siblings.
When Chaban was in the fourth grade, his class had an opportunity to visit the United States but his mother would not let him go. She was afraid he would not come back. Furious, he yelled at her, “I would give my leg to go there!” Now here he is in the United States so many years later, without his right leg. Be careful with your wishes, he told himself.
Across from Chaban, a Ukranian woman listened to the music. Oksana Mushchenko watched as more people walked past the tent and cast curious glances. She was born in Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine. When the war started, she and her husband and their two children were visiting the Republic of Georgia. She had not believed a conflict would start between Russia and Ukraine. After two world wars, how many more wars can either country possibly experience? she thought.
She remembered waking up at four o’clock in the morning on Feb. 24 only to discover that the Russians had invaded. She called her mother and friends, “How are you? Are you safe?” Two of her friends told her they saw bombs and missiles.
Mushchenko, 41, and her family left Georgia for Bulgaria and stayed with a friend. They attended rallies outside the Russian consulate. However, they felt too close to the war. What if Russia invaded Bulgaria or other nearby countries? Friends in San Diego urged them to seek asylum in California.
The Mushchenkos arrived in San Diego in March 2022. Oksana found work with an agency that assists children with ADHD. She taught physics in Ukraine and would like to teach again. She forgets things easily, because she cannot think of anything other than what she can do to help Ukraine. When she considers her life there, it feels as though she is watching a movie and then it ends and she is here.
Remaining in the shade to avoid the heat, Ruslan Pisliakov listened as the band continued to play Ukrainian songs. Pisliakov, 42, was born near the Donetsk region of Ukraine. As a boy he dreamed of building cars. He attended college, married and moved to Kharkiv. He became an engineer and the father of two children. When the war started, he and his wife saw flashes of light near a military base. Pisliakov took his family to the parking garage of his office where he thought they would be safe from bombs. They stayed for 10 days before they left and traveled the country for about five months seeking safety and shelter. In July 2022, they sought asylum in San Diego where Pisliakov had a sister.
It was a very hard decision. Every day in Ukraine he heard sirens warning of missile attacks. He doesn't know how he feels now. He stays on his phone for news about Ukraine. He enjoys the smiles on the faces of his children. He thinks his family was lucky. He doesn't have nightmares of the war. He does not remember his dreams. He is lucky in that way, too.
The afternoon grew hotter and families taking advantage of the weather continued to wander past the tent and the band playing. Vendors sold food and souvenirs. It was hard to imagine war existed on such a day, but its shadows extended all around through the songs and the placards and the quiet resolve of those who had escaped it pero could not ignore it.
