Oleg Yuzych – Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA
Kyiv Post: Where are you from in Ukraine?
Oleg Yuzych: I was born in Lviv to a family of teachers.
KP: When did you leave? Why did you leave?
OY: We left in spring of 2006 due to dire financial situation. We had no place to live with our 2 young children and no realistic hope of being able to afford to buy one in the foreseeable future.
KP: How did you end up where you are?
OY: Without putting much hope in it, I filled out a Green Card lottery application online, literally five minutes before the designated time window was closed. Seven months later our neighbor brought us a notice of a winner.
It didn’t even make to our mailbox, sitting somewhere in the vestibule of our nine-story apartment building. After a period of hesitation, we decided to try it as we had nothing to lose financially in Ukraine.
Our good friends that we knew through a church invited us to Springfield area, Massachusetts. At first, I went by myself in order to make some money so I could bring over my wife and two children. They joined me in the US three months later.
KP: Do you ever regret that you are not in Ukraine – why or why not?
OY: In general, I have no regrets that we are not in Ukraine because of many opportunities that we and our children have here.
KP: What do you miss most about Ukraine?
OY: Our whole immediate and extended family as well as some friends that remain in Ukraine.
KP: What do you miss least about Ukraine?
OY: Nearly constant rain (in Lviv anyway) and something that does not translate well into English – “Hamstvo” (rudeness) – and Ukrainian redneckness (Хамство і Рагулізм).
KP: Does USA have more opportunities for you than Ukraine?
OY: Yes, there’re lot more opportunities for our whole family here.I was able to transfer most of my education in medical field from Ukraine to the US and my wife is a full-time student at one of the best colleges in America.
Needless to say, she couldn’t be admitted to any university in Ukraine because her family wasn’t able to afford it.
KP: What relatives/friends are left back in Ukraine?
OY: As I have mentioned before, our whole family and all friends stayed in Ukraine.
KP: Do you visit them or do they visit you? Often?
OY: We were able to go back and visit Ukraine this summer after four years, hoping to do so more often from now on. My mother-in-law visited us twice so far to help out with the children. Unfortunately, the US consulate in Kyiv declined a tourist visa application for my mother.
KP: With Ukraine coming up to its 20th anniversary of national independence, how do you feel about your homeland? Is it making progress as a nation? Or not so much?
OY: I will always be a Ukrainian and nothing is going to change that fact. I love Ukraine, but in all honesty, regretfully I can’t say I’m proud of Ukraine at this point of history.
There was a quick glimpse of hope during and immediately following the 2004 Orange Revolution, but personal ambitions of our reckless politicians destroyed all my expectations.
I follow the news from Ukraine closely and I do not think that my country is making any progress as a nation at this point. It has rather turned around and is going in the wrong direction, losing precious time that could be used to form a strong European nation.
KP: What would it take for you to return?
OY: An interesting and well-paid job.
KP: What do you wish for your country?
OY: I wish for my country to turn around and start looking forward instead of looking back at its Soviet past.
KP: Do you think that wish will come true?
OY: No, not in the near future, unfortunately.
