A Ukrainian family bound for Castlegar won’t arrive before August if they come at all.
Peter Koteles says the Kocharayans, a family of four from northeastern Ukraine, are in Austria dealing with documentation. However, one of them needs a minor operation first. The Austrian government is offering to take care of it, but it won’t happen until the end of July.
“It’s a bit of a holding pattern,” Koteles says. “The hope is that all of the documentation for them to come in Canada will stay intact. If they did come to Canada, I cannot foresee it being before mid-August. But our hope is that things would settle down enough that people would start to make their way back home and rebuild. So many Ukrainians we’re in touch with simply want to go back home.”
Koteles and wife Kim have known the Kocharayans for almost 20 years, as Arthur Kocharyan was one of the teachers they trained during a program they were involved with in Ukraine between 1999 and 2005.
“Arthur is one of our champion teachers,” Koteles says. “He’s very gifted. We love him and the family so we’ve stayed in touch.”
Koteles says the Kocharayans left Ukraine prior to the start of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, but Arthur’s mother stayed behind for a few weeks. A few weeks later he arranged to have her extracted. “I’m sure with no small amount of risk,” Koteles adds. The family reunited in Poland.
Koteles says another friend who was one of their interpreters in Ukraine is now in a southeast Asian country and would be interested in coming to Canada: “She would be quite ready. If circumstances allowed for her to come here fairly quickly, she would love to do that.”
Koteles adds they have been in touch with several other families either evacuating Ukraine or staying in the country to help with relief efforts. He works with Langley-based Global Aid Network, which is involved with providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine as well as in Syria, Africa, and other countries.
Their group has sent about 120 containers of aid from Europe and Canada to help refugees both inside and outside Ukraine.
