When the Belmont Voice last reported on Karen Unanian and his wife Viktoriia Susidenko, their family, which had fled the violence in Ukraine for the U.S., had lost their Belmont apartment, moved to Cambridge, and, with the change of residence, had been required to move their three children from Belmont’s public schools.
Now, at long last, the family has plans to return to Belmont later this summer, allowing the children to attend Belmont schools in September.
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“It’s very great news,” Susidenko said. “When you say to [a potential landlord] you have three kids and a dog, it is no, no, no. So, it has been a problem. These amazing people said you have three kids – great! A dog? Great! They are very nice and amazing. We are so glad to move.”
The family will be renting the first floor of a house, with the landlord living above.
“My kids will go back to Belmont schools, and they missed the Belmont schools,” she said.
Last year, Belmont residents were captivated by the story of the refugee family who fled their home during the Russian invasion and settled into a new life in Belmont. When they lost their temporary housing in Belmont, however, and found no local options available, they rented a Cambridge apartment and moved out of town. When teachers and classmates learned the children would be required to leave their schools, they wrote letters to the School Committee and Superintendent Dr. Jill Geiser, asking that the children be allowed to stay. Geiser stated in an email to the family that because their residence changed, the children would not be allowed to continue attending school in Belmont.
Despite that, Susidenko said, the children kept in contact with their school friends. Her daughter Maria even went to visit her former teachers at the Chenery School.
“They are very happy they are going back,” Susidenko said.
Susidenko is a student at Mass Bay Community College, where she is earning a certification in child development, which will allow her to work in the Cambridge schools.
“It is hard work for me because I have three kids and a job, but I am a good student with very good grades,” she said.
Although the children missed their Belmont friends and teachers, they did well in Cambridge, according to their mother. The two boys, Daniel and Luka, passed English tests that will allow them to enter general education programs.
Susidenko said this is all good news for the family, but certain hurdles remain and are causing stress.
The family’s status as humanitarian parolees expires in August, and Susidenko is wading through the mountain of paperwork that will allow the family to stay in the U.S.
“It is difficult. You don’t know what will happen tomorrow, what change could come to you. What decision some government could make about Ukrainian people,” she said.
Their parents, friends, and other family members remain in Ukraine, living through daily bombing campaigns that target the electrical grid, leading to power outages and making life all the more difficult. Their parents can’t emigrate to the U.S. because they care for older relatives.
“It is impossible,” she said. “Nobody knows what will happen here, so how could our parents come to me when they don’t know what immigration status we will have in the future? We just live for this day, take care of our kids, and don’t make any plans for the future.”
Susidenko said she has been heartened by the support the family has received in Belmont, in person and on her Facebook page.
“I want to say thank you for your support and to the people who try to understand the situation,” she said.