Ukrainian family fleeing Russian invasion set to be welcomed to Duffys Forest home
A young Ukrainian family of four, forced to flee as Russians invaded their home city, will soon be safe on the northern beaches thanks to the generosity of a Duffys Forest woman.
Manly
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A terrified Ukrainian family, with two small children, has reached out to the northern beaches for sanctuary after Russian invaders occupied the city they called home.
Now Monika Muranyi, a generous local has opened her heart, and her Duffys Forest house, to provide the war refugees with a beautiful bolthole until they can find their feet in Sydney.
Sergey and Anna (Zhigulina) were driven out of their home in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson earlier this year as Russian armed forces marched in.
With their two children, Sergey jnr, 2 and nine-year-old daughter Victoria, the couple, both with successful professional careers, abandoned their comfortable life and fled west, with droves of other displaced people, ending up in the relative safety of Romania.
From there, the family managed to contact a Melbourne-based Facebook site — Hungarian Australians for Displaced Ukrainians — and post their plea for help.
Anna posted on the site, set up by an ex-pat Hungarian journalist Judit Vajda, that they had dreamt of moving to Australia, even before the Russian invasion.
“With the situation that has now developed, we decided that we have nothing to lose now (since Kherson was occupied by Russian troops and it turns out that we no longer have a house) and we need to start all over again, so we decided to fulfil our dream and try,” Anna, a psychologist, wrote.
“We do not plan to stay in a humanitarian place for a long time.
“We need help for the first time after arrival, in order to move away from the road a little to adapt and deal with documents, the area of future residence, school and kindergarten.
“If it will be for a month we will be very grateful,” Anna wrote.
Ms Muranyi, who moved to Australia and settled in Manly 10 years ago from her home in Hungary, saw Anna’s post and felt a pressing need to help her family.
She contacted the Ms Vajda who put in her touch with Anna and Sergey.
The family will fly into Sydney on June 18 on a humanitarian visa.
Ahead of their arrival Ms Muranyi, who managed a large charity in Hungary, has been asking, via the Terrey Hills Community Facebook page, if any locals could help out with donations of children’s clothing, bedding, cots and toys.
She also asked if any prospective employers for Sergey, a computer software engineer, would look at his CV and whether anyone could provide a car they could use temporarily.
“I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the response, the outpouring of support from the community” Ms Muranyi said on Tuesday.
“The family will stay on the house for between four to eight weeks while they sort out jobs and a permanent place to live. But they need some essentials, especially for the children.
“Sergey’s CV has been seen by more than 20 people and he’s been offered a number of interviews.
“A local woman, who owns a car dealership, is lending them a car at no cost.
“A lady even offered free babysitting so the parents could go at night, but I told her I don’t think they will be able to afford to go out.”
Ms Muranyi said the little girl had not been to school for more than three months and was desperate to settle down to learning again with other kids.
“They are paying their airfares and making the big leap to start their new life. They have no family here.
“They are a highly educated family, but they tell me that even if the war ended soon, they don’t ant to raise their kids under such circumstances.
”I just feel absolutely shattered at the thought that such aggression by a country can happen in the 21st century. I felt compassionate for anyone who needs because there was no dignity for these people, for their lives, because of the invasion.”
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