Surrounded by paintings in one of the only Ukrainian-owned galleries in Sedona, Nataliia Beliak wiped away her tears as she recalled the days before she fled her hometown of Malyn, Ukraine, with her two children.
“I just moved to another country with nothing. It’s like a totally new life,” Beliak said. “A single mom with two kids, it’s very difficult. It’s stressful.”
Just over a month ago, Beliak came to West Sedona to stay with her longtime friend and local Sedona artist, Khrystyna Kozyuk, in hopes of finding a job and a place to live.
Fleeing War
Back in February, Beliak received the first warning that Russian forces were attacking her small city, 50 miles northwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The text from her children’s school said that the school was closed due to impending attacks and to stay inside on the morning of Feb. 24.
“I was like, ‘it’s not possible,’” Beliak said. “I believed that maybe in a few days we would see that European countries and the U.S. would stop Russia.”
The following days were chaos for Beliak and her children as they connected with her family deciding what to do next. For a few days, they stayed in their hometown as the Russian destroyer planes circled the town and occasionally fired.
On Feb. 26, Beliak’s father told them they had to leave the country immediately while he stayed behind to help in any way he could.
“We just jumped in the car. I was like, I need just our papers or something because we need to cross the border,” Beliak said. “[My father] was driving through the forest because we knew that there were Russians near our town. We were afraid to go on the main road [because] they destroy without warning.”
It took the family 12 hours to reach the Polish border, a drive that usually takes about eight to nine hours.
Her father dropped them off despite her asking him to come with them.
“Women and kids must leave because it’s war. But men belong to stay and protect,” Beliak said. “I saw it in their eyes. And that’s why maybe we hold the borders still, what I saw in our people, the way the guys looked. They felt inside to protect our land.”
In Poland, Beliak and her children stayed with her nephew, who goes to school near Warsaw. After almost a month in Poland, Beliak decided to leave for America with help from humanitarian groups at the border to hopefully declare asylum.
Life in Sedona
Since arriving in Sedona at the end of March, the Beliak family has moved three times. From initially staying with Kozyuk to then moving in with Sedona residents Dave and Ania Hanke then moving back in with Kozyuk, the family has been struggling to find a place to go permanently.
Currently, her daughter and son, Aleksandra and Kirill, attend the Immaculate Conception Catholic School off State Route 89A in Cottonwood. There the kids have been learning English, as well as going to math and science lessons as unofficial students.
“They spend too much time sitting now. Something is different,” Beliak said. “They saw these military machines and the gun explosions. It’s scary for the kids especially. It was scary for me.”
With help from the Hankes and other locals, the family has received donations of clothes, money, gifts for the children and other necessities.
And since leaving her home, Beliak has kept up with her parents and sister whenever they had a signal. According to her, they only shared limited information in fear that Russian intelligence had access to their calls. But since then, Beliak has avoided paying attention to much of the news after receiving photos of her town — nearly destroyed — from the shelling and bombings that occurred in mid to late March.
What’s Next
Beliak has applied for a work visa with the hopes of finding a job in the area. But until she finds a job or can afford a car, housing and basic needs, they are asking for donations through a GoFundMe registered under her name, “Nataliia Beliak,” found here: bit.ly/3rY31oa.
“I don’t have money to move,” Beliak said. “It’s like I’m stuck at this moment in this place, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. I hope I receive this permit soon so I will have a job.”
But according to her friends like Kozyuk, it may be easier for them to move closer to a big city like Phoenix as housing in Sedona is an increasing issue.
Beliak and her children hope the attack on Ukraine ends soon, but she’s still not sure that they will return to Ukraine for anything more than a visit.
“Russia doesn’t care. They need to destroy and that’s it,” Beliak said. “Whatever it takes, someone’s home or life. [It] doesn’t matter to them. We don’t have a military base, we have nothing in my town. But every night they were hitting and bombing. I know children who died in their houses. We all just hope that this ends soon.”
