Ukrainian mom sends teen son to Canada for safety amid Russia attacks
Posted March 16, 2022 9:48 am.
Last Updated March 16, 2022 8:44 pm.
A Ukrainian teen is getting adjusted to his new life in Canada after his mom made the difficult decision to send him to B.C. for his safety.
Dany Bereza, 15, arrived at Vancouver International Airport on Friday with the clothes on his back and a backpack with some personal belonging after a week-long journey through four different countries.
“At first I didn’t want to go from Ukraine to abroad, I just wanted to stay with my family,” Dany told CityNews.
“It was very hard but my mother and my granny told me that they would be happy if I will leave.”
The decision to send Dany to Canada was made by his mom, Anastasiia Bereza, a few days into Russia’s invasion. The family lives in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, which has been targeted by the Kremlin.
Dany was able to come to Canada after he obtained a visitor visa a few years ago.
“I just worry of course about my son. He’s too young to stay, he can’t be useful, you know, in Kyiv. So it’s better for him to be in a safe place,” Anastasiia, who’s a journalist, told CityNews from her apartment in Kyiv.
“Now, when I know he is in safe place, I feel okay. I feel free to stay here and work here in Kyiv, help, do my job.”
Anastasiia Bereza says she made the decision to send her son Dany to Surrey to stay with family friends after Russia began attacking Ukraine. (Submitted)
But she says the week it took for Dany to get to Canada was hard as she constantly worried about him. Dany’s trip included a drive through Ukraine to Poland, a five-day stay in Poland’s capital, and a 13-hour layover in France.
“The hardest thing was to get to the border with Poland. It took me three days to get there,” Dany said. “Usually it takes like seven hours but … it was very crowded and … almost all the roads in Ukraine were like bombed and crashed.”
He’s now living in Surrey with family friends from Ukraine and finishing up his school year online.
While the transition has been easier than he thought it would be, he misses his mom and grandma and worries about them. The family keeps in touch multiple times a day through calls and messages.
“I thought that it would be much more difficult for me but I live in a good family, they’re friends of family and I know them for a long time so they behave really good with me, take care of me, so it was pretty simple to get used to this life,” he said.
“The most exciting thing for me is the streets in Surrey cause you know these houses are like from U.S. movies, you know, it’s like very different from Ukraine.”
Dany, a junior hockey player in Ukraine, has also been excited about the idea of playing his favourite sport in Canada.
Dany Bereza is a hockey player from Ukraine. His mother made the difficult decision to send him to Canada just days into the war with Russia. (Submitted)
“Canada’s hockey is on another level… all the guys are the same: they have two hands, two legs, one head but they are just unbelievable,” he added.
“We plan to go in few days to go to Vancouver Canucks game… I’m looking forward to go there.”
Anastasiia is glad she decided to send her son to Canada as Russia’s attacks on her city have only worsened since Dany left.
She says a rocket fell and destroyed a building near her and her mother’s homes recently, killing a number of people.
“When I imagine Dany here, I don’t want this for him,” she said.
“Now he’s safe and in one of the most beautiful cities in the world in good company.”
