Ukrainian exchange student now an evacuee

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Photo courtesy of Amy Robbins. Yulia Dynda, a former exchange student from Ukraine at Salem who lived in Hebron for a year and spent a great deal of time in Granville.

Just two years ago, Yulia Dynda, 18, of Ukraine was an exchange student living in Hebron with the Gallagher family attending school in Salem, learning how to play basketball and attending church and knitting classes in Granville.

Now Dynda is in western Ukraine after leaving Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv during the evolving war with Russia, and she and her family fear for their lives and safety every day.

·        : From left to right: Yulia Dynda (left) and Amy Robbins (center) speak with NYVTmedia senior reporter Austin Crosier on Zoom on April 20.

In 2014, Dynda’s family was forced to leave Crimea for Kyiv out of fear of a Russian takeover.

Just a mere eight years later, that fear is being re-lived.

“It was all due to Russian occupation and we did not want to live under Russian occupation because we absolutely know what it’s like and it’s terrifying, especially with the fact that they target Ukrainian patriots and Ukrainian-speaking populations. We had to leave,” Dynda said. “Everything that happened to me in 2014, I was only 10 years old. It made me realize how much of a patriot I am of my country and how much I love my country.”

As a freshman in University in Ukraine, Dynda is currently studying International Relations and a fourth language, German, while working a part-time job.

When asked what her plans and goals look like, Dynda said she couldn’t honestly plan for the future with what’s going on outside her window.

“My plans don’t go far into the future right as we don’t even know what will happen tomorrow,” she said.

Amy Robbins, of Hebron, is the neighbor to the Gallagher family and calls Dynda her “Ukrainian daughter.” Robbins felt an instant connection meeting Yulia at a Granville Assembly of God church event in August 2019 learning of Dynda’s experiences and culture across the country.

“My ex-husband is of Czech-descent,” Robbins said. “His father emigrated to this country when the communists invaded in the 1950s. So he (Robbins’ ex-husband) went to Munich (Germany) and then became a citizen of the States by serving in the Korean War and sponsored his parents and brought them over here. Yulia and I, we just clicked on that shared culture,” Robbins said.

“She really opened my eyes, we live such a sheltered life here in the States where we are not exposed to the struggles in the former Soviet bloc countries. You hear a lot about the fall of the U.S.S.R. and the rise of the Russian Federation, but you don’t hear as much about Ukraine or the smaller countries that emerged after 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. It was just really wonderful for her to open my eyes to that culture and their struggles and this part of history that just isn’t really shared here, those struggles aren’t really taught here.”

Robbins, like many in Washington County, felt compelled to give back and help when hearing of Dynda’s situation.

“It was sheer panic, I literally felt like I had a child stuck in a war zone and I couldn’t get there,” she said. “My grandfather was a prisoner of war in World War II and I remember the stories he and my uncle, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, went through, and I related what Yuliya must be experiencing to those war stories that I heard then and I had a hard time processing it… I had to rationalize a lot of it through, ‘what did they do in World War II?’

“At least now we have the internet, we have some more information and insight into what’s going on.”

Using her skill and passion for knitting with members of the Village Yarn Shop in Granville, Robbins raised $2,100 to be transferred directly to Dynda and her family through a bank account she set up while in the U.S. off a shawl Robbins crafted.

·       Photo courtesy of Amy Robbins. Lisa Bohannon, the winner of the first raffle that raised $2,100 for Yulia Dynda’s family, donning the shawl made by Amy Robbins.

The winner of the raffle, Lisa Bohannon, was picked over Zoom by Dynda herself. A second raffle for a shawl made by Robbins titled “Somewhere No One Can Find Me” after an Instagram post by Dynda, is in the works with tickets being sold until June 11 and the winner will be drawn at the shop.

A second shawl made by Amy Robbins of Hebron that is showcased at the Village Yarn Shop in Granville. This shawl, titled “Somewhere No One Can Find Me”, will be raffled on June 11 with the raised funds going to Yulia Dynda’s family.

“Tickets are $10 each and I keep track of purchased tickets on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.  Winner announcement will be on Facebook. 100% of funds collected are donated to Yulia,” Robbins said.

Dynda’s mother has lost her main source of income, with the obvious growing disinterest in renting apartments in Kyiv following the constant bombings and daily warfare tactics taking place in the city. Her father is on the frontlines with the Ukrainian military experiencing the gruesome realities of war.

“Both sets of my grandparents are also here so the money is also going to help them because they don’t receive their pensions right now. That is all evenly distributed among all of us.”

Robbins also created 20 Ukrainian flag knitted hats to be worn by Siena College’s pep band, along with arranging future events for proceeds to be delivered in full to the Dynda family, including Dakota Jade Designs’ Emily Vincent having one of Robbins’ “Sea of Shells” shawls at her booth for the “Spring into Salem” event on May 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Blind Buck Valley Farmstead.

“Sara Henry will be visiting the area for Booktopia at the Northshire and has offered a few sets of her books autographed for raffle. She will be here in early May and a raffle will be announced on the Village Yarn Shop Facebook site,” Robbins said.

“I am also working on other handcrafted items and fellow knitters have said they’d like to donate an item to raffle so we are considering other ways we can continue to raise funds and help Yulia and her community in Ukraine.”

Telescope Casual Furniture Inc. CEO Kathy Juckett described Dynda as “a delightful young lady who knew what she wanted in life.” Juckett said she was “inspired” by Robbins’ first shawl she made and wanted to contribute to the fundraising efforts with her own creativity.

Juckett created a 24”x36” painting to be raffled. Juckett’s painting is on a panel board depicting a unique interpretation of the Ukrainian flag with the blue incorporating the sky and the yellow introducing three standing sunflowers, the symbol of Ukraine, facing towards the light in a wheat field.

·        A 24”x36” painting on a wooden panel of the Ukrainian flag with notes of Ukrainian culture made by Telescope CEO Kathy Juckett to be put up for a raffle with the raised money going to Yulia Dynda’s family.

“To me, it symbolizes them (Ukrainians) standing tall, standing strong and looking towards the light,” Juckett said. “What these people are going through is heart-wrenching.”

To put the daily events into perspective, Robbins described the attacks in Ukraine as “9/11 on every block, every day.”

“We said never again. I grew up in the ‘80s where we had to watch the day after, we knew where the fallout shelters were, we went to them in school. The nuclear threat was real and when President Reagan said, ‘Gorbachev, tear down that wall’ and it fell, we lived in this bubble and it felt so real,” Robbins said.

“This could be us. We don’t know that this isn’t going to be us tomorrow. In my opinion, I don’t want to make the same mistakes that (British Prime Minister Neville) Chamberlain made in 1939 when they let Germany run through Poland. Ukraine is our Poland, but they are being far more successful. They (Ukrainians) want to fight for their freedom but I feel like they are fighting for the freedom of the world.

“I’m going to stand beside her (Yulia) and do what I can to make sure that they (Ukrainians) are successful. I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history.”

As for Dynda, she concluded her thoughts with a compelling, passionate message to give outsiders a glimpse as to what’s occurring in Ukraine and the persistence to survive as a nation.

“I just want everyone in the States to know that this war is really bloody. This war has shown me that I was so naive to think that modern warfare is somehow different from what it used to be. This war brought genocide to our country once again, mind you, Ukraine has experienced genocide from Russia, not even two times. Probably three major times and small attempts to recreate genocide over the history,” Dynda said.

“I want everyone to know that our country will be fighting until our last breath because we know what it’s like to be under Russian occupation and we know that it is so much worse than being at this war. That is why we are fighting currently.

“I know it must be difficult to comprehend for other people as they have not experienced what Ukrainians have experienced throughout our history, but we know what we are fighting for and we know what we stand for. We stand for our values, the freedom of speech, for personal security and for all of the rights granted by the universal declaration of human rights and everything else. We just want the good to win, and I know God is on our side and that the victory is ours.”

For more information on donating to Dynda’s family or participating in a raffle, contact Robbins at [email protected].