HELPING HER HOMELAND
Manor College alum tells of friends, relatives in war-torn Ukraine
For 33-year-old Olya Yarychkivski, the ongoing Russian invasion into her native Ukraine has been “heartbreaking” to watch as the events continue to unfold.
“It feels like it’s been weeks, but it’s just five days,” Yarychkivski said in a phone interview earlier this week.
Yarychkivski, a former Montgomery County resident now living in New York, recalled fond memories growing up with her younger sister Oksana and her parents Lesya and Yosyp in Nadvirna, located in the western part of Ukraine.
“I grew up in a smaller town that was just perfect, peaceful, beautiful life, wonderful childhood close to the mountains, beautiful river — a lot of happy childhood memories playing with many kids on the street safely,” she said.
Yarychkivski said that “it was a bit tough in the ‘90s in Ukraine. We didn’t have everything. Sometimes we were a little limited in our resources, but overall I had a wonderful family, a wonderful upbringing, a lot of care, a lot of emphasis on education.”
Her parents and sister moved to the U.S. in 2003. Yarychkivski stayed in Ukraine with her grandparents while she finished high school. She came to the U.S. in 2005 to attend the Jenkintown-based Manor College where she studied biology and science. Manor College was founded in 1947 by
“Some of my cousins are in civilian territorial defense, some of my cousins are in the active military and we don’t know where they are.”
— Olya Yarychkivski