PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Area students are in the beginning stages of their academic years. And that includes many Ukrainian refugees getting their education in northwest Ohio.
"At first, it was really hard to find my class. It's a lot of buildings, a lot of rooms," Ukrainian refugee Andrii Bondarenko said of his first day at Owens Community College.
Bondarenko is tackling the challenges of language barriers and of being from a different country during his first year of college.
But he's not the only one in his family going back to school.
His mother, Tetiana, is taking English classes at Owens, too. And his sister, Polina, is in sixth grade at Perrysburg Local Schools.
"We are very grateful and we feel in every corner, my daughter and son, are being treated very nicely," Tetiana said. "We're welcome in the community, yet it's very difficult to be far away from the place we've been born and raised."
For the Bondarenko family, getting school supplies and enrolling were easy. But language, tuition and transportation continue to be difficulties.
Alona Matchenko, the founder of Toledo Helps Ukraine, helps bring Ukrainian refugees to the U.S. And part of helping them move their lives is helping them continue education.
"We took Polina first to Perrysburg schools where we reside and host this family," Matchenko said. "The staff was very helpful. The principals themselves enrolled Polina and there was no problem with that whatsoever."
Matchenko said that while tuition is a complicated process because of their refugee status, it's better than being in Ukraine during wartime.
"If you compare it to the suffering any ordinary individual in Ukraine is experiencing right now, running to a bomb shelter, unexpected sirens, it's nothing," she said.
Andrii and Polina say the new school year has them missing classmates back home.
There are differences that they enjoy about school in the U.S., though.
"We need much more time to study in Ukraine. Usually it's 10 hours a day, it's very much. It's really hard. But here, you have more free time," Andrii said.
Matchenko said one of the biggest challenges is having transportation. None of the refugees have a license yet, but even if they did, they don't have a car.
Anyone who wants to support Toledo Helps Ukraine's cause can do so here.