HOUSTON – A Ukrainian girl has been reunited with her cat months after her family fled their country. It’s all with help from a Houston woman.
The Bezhenar family fled their home in Odessa on Feb. 25, 2022, one day after Russia invaded Ukraine. A story that is similar for millions of Ukrainians.
KPRC’s Zach Lashway is the only local reporter to have traveled to Eastern Europe to cover the humanitarian crisis that unfolded days after Russia’s invasion that continues. He documented accounts like the Bezhenar’s during his time in Poland, talking with refugees fleeing Ukraine to the west.
Although the Bezhenar family, a family of six fled to Romania, their decision to leave brought great concern and a lot of unknowns.
Maria Bezhenar is the matriarch of the family.
“Immediately, I could not wait any longer. It is dangerous to stay there. It is dangerous to stay there. I don’t know what has happened with my house now. What’s with the house,” Maria said.
The family was forced to leave their dogs and cats behind.
“That was a hard decision because we don’t know what will happen when we crossed the border and there was no room in our car to take all the animals,” Maria explained.
The family’s dogs were adopted by two families. The cats were cared for by a family member, who was ordered to stay back to join the Ukraine military.
“We told our kids that consider it like a journey, we will see what will happen in the future. Maybe we can get back to our animals,” Maria said.
After 90 days in Romania, the Bezhenars left for San Francisco. With time, Maria’s daughter, 10-year-old Agnessa, became more and more inconsolable being separated from her cat Arsenii.
“‘Where is my cat? I miss him so much!’ And she was crying all the time,” explained Maria.
Shortly after arriving in the US, Agnessa was gifted another cat.
“That was really emotional for her. She just grabbed this cat, and she was hugging him and finally, I thought everything was fine with her,” Maria said.
But it was not. Happy tears turned into sadness.
“She said, ‘This little kitten is ok with me, he is fine with me, everything is perfect with him in our family, but what about Arsenni? Which I grew up with? What happens to him now? He stays in the country with war, he’s in danger,’” Maria said.
Desperate for a resolution, Maria reached out to a flight attendant she met on their trip from Romania to the US. That flight attendant contacted another flight attendant named Caroline Voila, who then reached out to Angelica Chavez-Etchury, a flight attendant at the time based out of Houston and founder of In the Name of Zoey, Houston-based animal welfare and advocacy group.
“I said sure, let’s do it,” shouted Angela.
As the effort in the US was beginning to take shape, a mission to get the cat out of Ukraine and into Romania was underway.
“In the meantime, I was trying to figure out who was going to Romania to get it,” Angela said.
In comes Mimi Thomas, a friend of Angelica’s who lives in Seattle. Mimi is a volunteer with In the Name of Zoey. Mimi was vacationing in Greece.
“She cut her vacation short. She switched her ticket. She went to Romania and picked up the cat,” explained Angela.
With help from so many people throughout the US, Ukraine, and other parts of eastern Europe, mission Arsenni to Agnessa was a go. From Odessa, to Moldova, Bucharest, Athens, Montreal, Seattle and eventually San Francisco, the cat and child were reunited. Part of Arsenni’s trip from Ukraine to the Romania border was spent in a backpack, on Uncle Sergey’s back while he drove a motorcycle. The rest of the voyage was by car or plane.
“It was awesome! Ignessa was like, ‘Woahhh!’ she couldn’t believe her cat was there.”
Maria so excited.
“I am a dreamer; I can dream, and I really believe it can really happen. I put all my hope and trust it can happen. I know it is unreal and who knows what happen during all this time and journey, but my heart was full of hope and that helps me a lot to believe.”
This was made possible from the kindness of so many and money raised (Fundraiser for Mariia Bezhenar by Geoffrey Peters : Support Ukrainian Refugee Family of 6 in North Bay (gofundme.com) that helped pay for government documents, passports, vet costs and airline fees. The family is living in the Bay Area. They are happy and healthy.
As Ukraine enters cold months, Maria expressed great concern for her loved ones in Ukraine. She said many people there are struggling to find heat sources because their infrastructure: electricity and gas have been attacked.
