EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the first of a five-part series highlighting the work of the Ukraine Nightingale Project and some of the families it’s helping in the South Okanagan. To help fund that work, the UNP is staging performances by the Tryzub Ukraine dance troupe Thursday in Oliver and Saturday in Penticton.

By Mark Brett, Penticton Herald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Until last year, Oleg Varnystka had never held a gun but he now carries an AK-47 and risks his life on the front lines to defend his Ukrainian homeland.

Fortunately six months ago his wife Vitalina Varnytska and their children, daughter Vlada, 17, and son Ustym, 15, managed to escape their war-torn country.

Continue reading The journey from Ukraine to Canada and a new life →