'Needed it for my kids': Ukrainian mother in California still adjusting to life in US
Since the war in Ukraine began, thousands of Ukrainians have come to the U.S. seeking safety. California's Kateryna Pryoh is among them.
Pyroh lived in Dnipro, a city about the size of San Francisco. The 26-year-old was raising her two small daughters surrounded by friends and family before the war began.
“It just was a wonderful life, and I had maybe the best life in the world," she added. “I had a job. I had my place.”
In late February, Russia launched an all-out attack.
“I don't know why it happened," Pyroh said.
Like so many of Pyroh's neighbors, she pitched in to help those fighting on the frontlines. And like so many, as things got worse, she too thought it was time to leave.
"I needed it for my kids,” she said. "They needed to be in a good atmosphere, and you know, just clean sky with no bombs.”
In April, she packed up as much as she could and said goodbye to her loved ones. Pryoh drove the 600 miles with her daughters to Poland. They would end up flying from the Netherlands to Colombia and then Mexico. They crossed into the United States at the border in Tijuana.
She was driven by relatives to Orangevale, outside of Sacramento. She was going to live with Jennifer Scalzi, a stranger who volunteered to take her in temporarily.
“I was fortunate enough to have room in my house to take in a Ukrainian family,” Scalzi said. "I remember opening the door and being quite surprised to see a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old and this very young mother. I remember that she just kind of fell into my arms, and I remember that hug. I knew that I did the right thing. It was instant love."
Scalzi quickly became much more than an American host.
“I say she’s my American mom,” Pyroh said.
Pyroh is one of 113,000 Ukrainians to come to the United States since February.
Pyroh lived with Scalzi for nearly seven months. She and the girls are now living in an apartment with her boyfriend.
She said that she had expected the U.S. to look like "a Hollywood movie."
But Pyroh has learned that living here isn’t always as glamorous as it is on the big screen.
Like many Ukrainians, Pyroh is in the country on a one-year visa, which expires in April. She’s not sure what will happen after that.
“I want to live here,” she said.
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