Sophomore Aksinia Petrovska starts promotional fundraiser to raise money to help Ukrainian armed forces in the Russo-Ukraine conflict
While there are many efforts being made around the world to support the war in Ukraine, sophomore Aksinia Petrovska is striving to create awareness of the Russo-Ukraine conflict, gain support and raise money to help the people of Ukraine.
Petrovska, now a Hawk, hails from Mykolaiv, Ukraine. The Russo-Ukraine conflict has been going on since 2014 and has escalated in the past few years into war. Petrovska has plans to bring more awareness and support to the war effort in her country. In February of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in an escalation of the war and Ukraine is still striving to stay an independent people. Bringing more awareness can show that Ukraine is a strong and brave country.
“I want to show people that Ukrainians are not weak people and as a separate country we have our own culture, traditions, language, and history. I’m proud of my country and I want to help our soldiers, our army, our people who [have suffered trauma}with the war as much as I can,” Petrovska said.
Petrovska is from Ukraine but has roots in San Antonio. She was born and has family in Texas and isn’t a complete stranger to Texas culture.
“I have been here since the beginning of March 2022, but I was born in San Antonio because my grandma was living in Corpus, so every time when I was here was [with] my grandma, I was in every camp, in every activity so I know what the culture is. I know what schools are over here and I know what the people are and I can speak pretty good English,” Petrovska said.
Even during a scary time, people still live their lives. In Ukraine, the people are adjusting to life with the war and have fallen into their own routines in spite of the situation. Life in Ukraine and life in America isn’t all that different.
“I mean it’s pretty good, I mean it was just life. You know it’s the same as American students, America, they have their own routine, they have their own life and goals. And I have that, I had that too, I had school. I had been doing professional voice for 10 years right now but the last two years I was doing it online because I moved here,” Petrovska said.
Moving somewhere for an indefinite amount of time can be off putting. Seeing a country for vacation is one thing, but moving somewhere and living there is a very different experience.
“When I was coming to the U.S. it was more like a vacation, so I was thinking of America like it’s a cool country and everything, when you really start to live in a different place you can see the pluses, like the positive sides and the negative side of the situation that you’re in,” Petrovska said.
Many people left Ukraine during the beginnings of the Russo-Ukraine conflict in 2014 and many more continue to leave their homes and the country. An estimated 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes and nearly 6.2 million have left the country altogether.
“[We left] to stay safe, lots of my friends are still in Ukraine and are living their life. People are getting used to everything around them even if there is a war, they kind of get used to what is happening and how to live like that. We basically moved to stay safe, that’s the main reason,” Petrovska said.
Petrovska and her family lived along the war line which is a very dangerous place to live. The border of the war front is a terrifying place to live with the fighting and possible invasion.
“We lived in the Mykolaiv, it’s behind the sea behind the Crimea [peninsula] and this point right now over there it’s like really close to the red line, you know, like the war line that is mostly occupied, so it’s pretty hard over there but people are getting used to it,” Petrovska said.
In total, roughly 14,400 people have been lost on both sides of the war. As a result of this, a majority of citizens have been fleeing to further parts of the country or to other countries in search of safety. Losing people to war is difficult. Showing support for the war to end and helping the citizens is important.
“There’s a lot of people, especially in my town, they’re afraid to lose their family and that is what’s happening. I have some friends that are lost and my mom has lots of people that she lost and it’s hard to lose people,” Petrovska said.