Recorded
2022.04.05
Ternopil Ukraine
See story on Youtube here!
Vitaliy Zhurenko speaks with quiet steadiness as he describes the life he once had in Kharkiv with his wife, Olga, and their two children, Kirill and Eleonora. When the threat of war grew near, he decided to move his family westward, hoping to find safety before the worst arrived. But the war caught them on the road, first in Kyiv and then again as they continued toward Ternopil. There, in the Philadelphia Church, they found refuge, food, and shelter—and a community ready to help. With the church’s support, Vitaliy’s family eventually made their way through Czechia and Poland to Düsseldorf, Germany, where the children could resume school and Olga could begin learning the language and rebuilding some routine.
Vitaliy, a physicist and university teacher by profession, chose to remain in Ternopil. He had seen firsthand the work the Philadelphia Church was doing to support displaced families, and he knew he could contribute. While he and his wife attempt to continue their academic work remotely, he now spends nearly all his time volunteering, offering help to those arriving with fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty. His parents, still in Kharkiv where shelling continues daily, remain a constant worry. Though he tries to persuade them to leave, they have stayed behind, and he carries the weight of waiting and hoping they will eventually agree to move to safety.
Through these months of upheaval, Vitaliy has reached an inner clarity. War, he says, forces each person to decide where they can be most useful. For some that means volunteering, for others fighting on the front, and for still others supporting families who have lost homes and livelihoods. What matters, he believes, is that everyone contributes with sincerity and purpose—whether the work is small or great. Only through this shared commitment, he says, will the country be able to endure and win as quickly as possible.
Quote:
- “War caught us on the road…”
- “I saw, that I can be useful here, at the church. I saw, what a great work people do”
- “…in this difficult period every person has to find that place, where he will be maximum useful…”
Reflection questions:
- Where would you send your family away for safety, if a disaster broke out?
- What is the church’s role to help during times of war and during times of peace?
- Where can you be useful in a conflict? What if the conflict is not a war with bullets but a war of ideas?