The first Ukrainian family to enter Spring Valley Community Church’s transition hub began to smell something familiar.
The father, mother and little girl laid down their luggage last week and headed for the kitchen area. There they spotted a crockpot of borscht.
They filled paper bowls with the beet-based soup that reminded them of home.
“They sat down and had their first family meal sitting down for a long time,” said Pastor Steve Babbitt. “They were happy.”
Said Tammie Babbitt, the pastor’s wife: “You can’t imagine the smiles on their faces when they see some familiar food and they can sit down and enjoy that together. They are exhausted and they have all expressed that they are grateful.”
When the Babbitts agreed to help immigrants on their journey from the border to their friends and relatives, someone suggested they serve borscht.
The pastor asked why and was told: “Just trust us.”
“I think that getting across the border to the United States is a huge relief and yet they haven’t reached their final destination quite yet, so they are very happy to be here and getting the sustenance for the final leg of their trip,” Tammie said.
In the last week since opening, volunteers regularly have supplied the church’s kitchen with that comfort food. And a Ukrainian chef offered his skills to fill their bellies.
The Spring Valley church is one of the newest hubs to provide food for families, a room of toys for children, a respite, a shower trailer and transportation to hotels and flights or train rides to their new temporary homes. (The pastor asks that people not donate clothing,)
Babbitt has observed that, so far, San Diego is a final destination for very few.
“The only access is by land or sea. There is no air bridge, so they fly into Mexico,” Babbitt said.
Anna Shpura, 34, who arrived at the church Saturday, gave her daughter a bowl of borscht and spoke about the Russian invasion and her traumatic 14-day journey.
Her hometown, Kherson, was the first major city to be taken by Russia, after heavy fighting. Located on the banks of the Dnieper River north of Crimea, where it flows into the Black Sea, Kherson is considered by Russia to be a strategic location.
Shpura and her neighbors found themselves without food, water, gas and electricity.
If lights were on in apartments, Russian soldiers would shoot at the windows, Shpura said through an interpreter.
A friend’s father was riding home from work on his bicycle when he was shot in the head and killed, said Shpura.
When their loved ones would die, they were not allowed to bury them properly, and they would put them in a body bag by their house and dig a hole and take a picture, she said. “It was heartbreaking.”
Kherson residents were told that Ukrainian soldiers would try to reclaim the area, she said. Heavy fighting was anticipated.
They lived in a high-rise building, without a basement, and since there weren’t enough bomb shelters, she decided to flee with he daughter and mother, Shpura said.
They were offered a place to stay in Crimea, and their 5-hour journey was interrupted every few kilometers by Russian soldiers forcibly interrogating them. Male passengers were kidnapped and forced to dig holes and hide Russian land mines, she said.
Because Crimea is controlled by Russia, Shpura accepted a woman’s offer to put them up in Georgia. From Georgia, she finally landed in Mexico and then at the church after crossing the border.
Shpura, her mother and her daughter will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, to stay with her mother’s friend.
Pastor Babbitt said: “It’s been really heartbreaking to see folks whose suitcases are all that they have left in their whole life.”
Earlier in the day, 17-year-old Diana waited with her family at the Ped West crossing at the San Ysidro Port of Entry to be taken to a hub.
She, her parents and two sisters had wide smiles on their faces after first stepping on American soil. But she said their suitcases had been lost during flights. They left Kyiv on Feb. 24 and Poland on March 2.
But after spending three days at a Tijuana shelter, the family was ready to travel again — this time to South Carolina to stay with friends.
While calling her journey “very difficult,” Diana said she hopes one day to return to her country.
Second of two parts.
See: ‘It Breaks My Heart’: People from Across U.S. Answer Inner Call to Aid Ukrainians at Border
