Ukrainian Family Shares Horrors of War With Students

795
Red Bank Regional High School seniors gathered in the auditorium last Tuesday for a living history lesson on the war in Ukraine presented by David and Natasha Halbout and their niece, Maiia Dvorina, who fled from Ukraine last spring. The presentation was arranged by AP English teacher Andrew Forrest.
Red Bank Regional High School seniors gathered in the auditorium last Tuesday for a living history lesson on the war in Ukraine presented by David and Natasha Halbout and their niece, Maiia Dvorina, who fled from Ukraine last spring. The presentation was arranged by AP English teacher Andrew Forrest. Eileen Moon

By Eileen Moon

LITTLE SILVER – Democracy is a fragile thing. It is our responsibility as citizens to protect it.

That was the takeaway for seniors at Red Bank Regional High School last Tuesday after a talk on the war in Ukraine, through the eyes of three people whose lives have been forever changed by it.

The living history lesson was arranged by Advanced Placement English teacher and National Honor Society advisor Andrew Forrest, who invited Red Bank residents David and Natasha Halbout, and Natasha’s niece Maiia Dvorina, to speak about Ukraine and Maiia’s escape last spring from her home in its wartorn capital city of Kyiv.

The event was a kickoff for the Honor Society’s October fundraiser, which will provide money for the purchase of lifesaving first aid kits for humanitarian use in Ukraine. The goal is to collect enough money to assemble 109 kits, which cost $110 each.

In his opening remarks, Forrest paraphrased Nobel Prize-winning author, political activist and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel: “The Renaissance had the sonnet. We have testimony. To testify is to engage.”

Since the outbreak of the war, the Halbout family has been engaged in this life-saving humanitarian mission. Using their savings, funds raised through the sale of textiles and crafts designed by Natasha and Maiia, and donations from supporters, they have so far been able to send 180 first aid kits to Ukraine through a trusted network of volunteers.

The medical kits are not simply for use on the battlefield.

A video news clip included in the presentation showed first aid workers applying tourniquets to victims of shelling who had been hit by shrapnel on city streets as they went about their ordinary business. In these events, tourniquets literally sustain life until victims can be brought to hospitals for emergency care, David Halbout stressed. “Bleeding out is the number one cause of death” in the war, Halbout said.

Ukraine, whose two-color flag represents the blue of its sky and the yellow of its grain, is a major producer of agricultural and industrial products as well as a leader in technology, developing video games and online services for international markets. The capital city of Kyiv, which dates from A.D. 482, is a modern metropolis with a historic heart that, in peaceful times, is home to theaters, opera houses and cafés.

Ukraine gained its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991 after the government’s collapse. But freedom came at a cost. “Millions died for independence,” he said.

And maintaining independence in the shadow of Russia has required continual struggle and sacrifice. In 2014, citizens took to the streets to protest the actions of then pro-Russian president Victor Yanukovich, who sought to steer Ukraine away from Europe. Six thousand people were killed before Yanukovich was forced to resign. Halbout, who teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, urged students who want to know more to watch the Netflix documentary “Winter on Fire.”

In the years since then, Ukraine enjoyed a complicated peace. That period ended Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia’s Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. In video footage from the Associated Press and other media, students witnessed Ukrainians of all ages, dressed virtually indistinguishably from people seen in any American city, taking their places in line as the government of Ukraine distributed 10,000 rifles to individual citizens to help in the defense of their country.

“Freedom and democracy are fragile things,” David said.

Maiia, who is 31, told students about her life before the war, when she worked as a counselor in a rehabilitation facility and shared an apartment with her elderly parents. Once the war began, daily life descended into chaos.

The Halbouts urged the family to leave, but Maiia’s parents did not want to go. Lulled by the propaganda they heard on Russian television news, they didn’t believe they were in danger.

With the situation increasingly dire, Maiia heeded the urging of David and Natasha and made plans to leave.

After 10 attempts, she successfully got out of the country.

After a bomb hit a nearby apartment building, killing several people and blowing out the windows of their apartment, Maiia’s parents were ready to leave, too, making the dangerous journey by car. They are now safe in Prague, where Maiia’s brother lives. Maiia now lives in Red Bank with David and Natasha until the day comes when she can return home.

After their presentation, the Halbout family answered questions from students, emphasizing the need for each citizen to value and protect the opportunity to live in freedom.

“I wanted young people in America to understand how fortunate you are,” said Natasha, a textile designer who retired from Riverview Medical Center where she worked as a psychiatric nurse.

“We can’t take democracy for granted,” Forrest told the students, noting that many will soon be old enough to cast their first ballots.

“We need to feel the weight of responsibility that comes with the privilege to vote.”

Many of the students felt that responsibility. Karla Ayala, 17, who works seven days a week at her family’s restaurant, Señor Pepper’s in Red Bank, was so moved by the presentation that she donated $50 from her college fund – a third of her weekly paycheck – to the fundraising drive. “With all the protests and police brutality – imagine, that could be me,” she said. “I have a 3-year-old sibling. I can’t imagine having to leave him with someone else to leave the country.”

The article originally appeared in the October 20 – 26, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.