By Heather Graves
Editor
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN — For the past month, Ukrainian immigrant Olga Wakker has held onto her phone as if it were glued to her hand – anxiously waiting for daily updates from her friends, family and neighbors.
“We call or text almost every day,” Wakker said. “I ask them to write me at least one or two words every day, then I will know that they are alive.”
Born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine, a port city on the Black Sea, Wakker, with the help of Literacy Green Bay, became an American citizen just one year ago, and has built a life with her husband, Johannes, in Northeast Wisconsin.
Wakker has lived in the United States since 2012, but said she has visited her friends and family often, with the most recent being in 2018.
She said she never imagined she’d be watching her homeland being attacked by Russia from thousands of miles away.
“As soon as we found out the war started in Ukraine, from that moment on, we cried for several days in a row,” Wakker said. “It was heartache, after which depression began. All our thoughts were about relatives, friends, the Ukrainian people and Ukraine.”
From halfway around the world, she said she feels helpless.
“Of course, we called our relatives, friends, classmates to find out how they were, and what was happening to them,” she said. “They write and say it is scary, and for the first days they hid in the cellars of their houses or with neighbors, friends and acquaintances. Those who have nowhere to hide, they stayed in the house. Sirens howl day and night. It’s scary, but silence is also alarming. People live in fear.”
Wakker said on the first day of the war, her family said the explosions were not far from their home but have since moved a little further out.
“In the early days, I was scared that Russian soldiers would take over our country, but now I think that Ukraine will prevail,” she said. “Our people have united and courageously defended their country.”
Wakker said war is scary, painful and full of devastation.
“Everyone and everything suffers — people, animals, buildings,” she said. “But the Ukrainian people are courageous, united, strong and no one will break them. Peace is the most valuable thing on planet Earth.”
Wakker said she has been touched by the kindness the residents of Northeast Wisconsin have shown her and her people.
“Many good, sympathetic, kind residents of Wisconsin are around us,” she said. “Many people sympathize and want to help Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, which they do. Our family really appreciates it.”