A powerful story from a woman who fled Ukraine shortly after the war began.

Oksana Druchynina is now in Steinbach and visited our office on Friday to share some of her experiences. She has worked with the Mennonite Centre Ukraine for 15 years.

Druchynina had quite an experience that quickly brought her to the decision to leave her country in search of safety for herself and her children.

oke about an encounter her staff had with some Russian soldiers who came to the Centre...

“We have a book, it's called Mennonite architecture, and it's about the history of the Mennonites. And since their soldiers are Russian, some of the sections were from Russia, like about Russia. And one of the soldiers said, can I have this book and our cook, she's just a strong-willed person, and she said, ‘you can take the book only if you bring it back.’ He got the book and before he left, he said, ‘keep on the work. You're doing good work.’ And so, he gave her a phone number. He said, ‘if you ever need help. Just give us a call.’”

Druchynina says that phone number proved to be incredibly helpful.

Listen to the podcast interview with Kenton Dyck and Oksana Druchynina to find out how that phone number may have saved a life.

Druchynina says there are still staff working at the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine which allows it to continue to operate.

Mennonite Centre board member, Chris Goertzen of Steinbach, says they initially thought the Centre would have to close due to Russian invasion.

“In fact, we’re even more powerful and have a bigger influence on the good of those communities in this time of war,” Goertzen says. “So, it's been really quite 100 days of exciting, emotional time, but it's rewarding to see the help that we're giving.”