The odometer of Alina Kordivova’s life is already adding up more than one would expect. For too many years it has been on the run from explosions and bombings, threats that fly through the air and darken the days. Since 2015 he covers distances and jumps from city to city in search of safety. At the age of 23, the young Ukrainian refugee is in her own country.
Behind the California Republic counter, Alina arranges meal orders that will soon be picked up by couriers. The American-inspired restaurant opened its doors last September, when the owner decided to migrate the Mykolaiv concept to keep up with customers and staff moving to Odessa, some 80 miles from home. In the relaxed space, where the music of Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne can be heard in the columns, 35 people from different regions of the country work.
Alina is one of them. He settled in the city in the south of Ukraine in the spring, after a long journey because of the war. When the invasion broke out, he lived in the north, a few miles from the border with Russia, in the country’s second largest city and the first to be destroyed by Putin’s army. He doesn’t forget the rumble he heard that morning in Kharkiv.
“We heard a sound, like a bomb. We knew that sound, we had already heard it in 2015. We heard it again and we knew it was going to be panic.” Precisely to escape the sound of artillery, Alinha left Lugansk six years ago. He was 15. In Kharkiv, he welcomed his sister, completed his studies and dreamed of the future. “I graduated last January and I was very happy. In February I started as an English teacher and I had a lot of plans for the coming months. My mother came to visit us and three days after she left, the war started It was the last time I saw my mother,” he complains.
Even before arriving in Odessa, the Ukrainian spent weeks in a refugee center in Norway. Always adding miles of war. He grew hand-handled through the rigors of circumstances, and maturity can be seen in the serious tone of his words, in the way he directs his eyes. He is used to being a nomad. “I think it’s part of my life already. I just have to accept it and learn to live with it.” For now, Alina is calm in Odessa. He returned to teaching English and is part of the California Republic team. “The site is incredible and the group is excellent”.
Restaurant with humanitarian
Alina’s resilience is reflected in the restaurant of Andriy Mykhaylyuk, a 44-year-old businessman who went against the grain and decided to invest in the middle of the war. In the original space, in Mykolaiv, routines underwent drastic changes and the restaurant was moved underground to be safe from bombing. In addition to selling to the public, California Republic was involved in humanitarian aid and served meals to Ukrainian doctors, firefighters, or military personnel.
Andriy has no doubt that the team’s union was the basis that enabled him to support the company, but he does not hide the hardships he has endured in recent months. “When you work in a restaurant that delivers, your employees are all over town. And if a bomb goes off, the first thing you have to do is make sure everyone’s okay, no one gets hurt or killed. Those moments have stayed with me. … a lot, I think they were the hardest of my life”.
Now there is more normality in Mykolaiv. According to the entrepreneur, the situation is gradually recovering. Emotional traits, those, will always be the hardest to deal with.
Source: DN
