A month ago, my husband Roberto approached me with the idea of wanting to do something in the face of the tragedy of the Russia and Ukrainian war—navigating what we could do as a family and how we could best help those truly in need. 

While neither my husband nor I am of Ukrainian descent, imagining what these families were enduring was unimaginable to us.  Roberto remembers the hardships of coming to Canada as a young boy, what it was like to learn a new culture, a new life and let go of his previously known life. For me, a lot of my family resides in Finland, and knowing how close they are to the wrath of Russia is definitely scary too… 

We recently moved into a new home with a lot more space (transitioned from a 2 bedroom condo) and so decided to explore the journey of hosting a family. We connected with a group on Facebook and started discussions with one of the organizers. They have a long list of people waiting to find family partners. After getting to know our family through a couple of conversations, they recommended 3 family profiles to us and we had the opportunity to chat with them via video with the help of a translator. Scheduling between different time zones was tricky, but within a few days we were able to chat with the husband of the family we ended up choosing to host. Overall it was a really, really fast experience, from connecting to them, to flying here was less than 3 weeks in total. We are now a week in and learning a huge amount as well.  Below is some advice that we are learning first hand with our family – week one: 

1. Not every family will be the right family for you and that is okay. 

We really had to consider what type of family we were comfortable housing. How many people? Is it a single mom and kids, or an entire family? How many children and what ages would fit well with our family? How can we best help them navigate the things they need to both live and thrive here in Edmonton? How long would they be with us? Do they have pets? Do they speak much English?

Each of these questions would be different for everyone. One of the toughest for us was whether we wanted children the same age as our boys (3 and 6) or a different complimentary age/gender. Another one was understanding what supports were in place to assist the family when it comes to finding employment in Canada. In truth, we are still navigating this one. 

In the end, the right fit ended up being more people than we originally expected, a family of 5 – 3 girls (8,11 and 13) and their mom and dad. 

1. We Need To Communicate Somehow

Seriously, google translate is such a lifesaver for us. Our guests are slowly learning English but for the most part, we have relied heavily on Google Translator to connect. Sometimes it feels like we are playing a game of charades but overall the apps have greatly improved how we can communicate on a daily basis. Something we didn’t realize or consider was what language we were needing to translate. The dad was raised mostly speaking Russian, while the mom and girls do know Ukrainian too. In fact, ⅓ of the Ukrainian’s native language has been Russian, however, due to the war, this appears to have caused some conflict and many are trying to distance themselves from speaking Russian due to this. That being said, ultimately getting clarity of communication is most important and whether we speak/translate in English, Ukrainian or Russian, for us it doesn’t matter. We just wanted to ensure we could understand each other best. 

1. There are many steps to get started here in Canada – be patient and take one step at a time

There were so many things we needed to organize for our guests, beyond the physical space. 

• Arriving At The Airport: If you can, it is best to organize transportation from the airport to your home. Many people that arrive will have limited funds for getting from point A to point B, so it is important to be mindful of this. When you get to the Edmonton International Airport, there is a booth set up with information for Ukrainian travellers pertaining to some of the items that need to be done. The good news is that this information is available in both English and Ukrainian. The Red Cross presently is set up there too but only open from 3 pm – 8 pm. The red cross has some handouts, but may vary – our guests received some gift cards to Save on Foods. 
• Getting their SIN Cards: While you can mail in your SIN card application, we decided to visit Service Canada and walk in. It did take a couple of hours, but it was worth it to get it done quicker. We went to the West End Service Canada location, here in Edmonton as we knew downtown would have much longer wait times. 
• Getting A Bank Card: We decided to go with Servus, as it seems like they were offering the most value for Ukrainian refugees. This was recommended to us by another Ukrainian refugee who has been a great help in helping us better understand the culture. Presently for opening a bank account, a Ukrainian refugee gets $250.00 cash back, 24 months of no bank fees and a MasterCard with $1500 worth of credit. 
• Applying For Alberta Health Care – Simply fill out the form from AHS and drop it off at any Alberta registry, however, do note that there is about a 2 month lag in processing time due to high volumes. 
• Getting A SIM Card For Their Phones: Phone packages in Canada, again a higher fee than most would expect. The red cross at one point was giving free SIM cards from Roger’s Chatr, but these have been long gone in Edmonton for months. We ended up finding a fairly good rate through Fido as it allowed them to be on a month-to-month with high data (20 GBs) and no credit check. People have also expressed Bell has some good options too. 
• Getting A Bus Pass: Edmonton Bus passes for Ukrainian refugees are significantly reduced, but the cost of it will still most likely come as a surprise as many of our basic costs are higher than what our families have experienced in their home country or other parts of Europe. Compared to our normal bus pass fee of $100.00, it is $35.00 and includes a leisure pass. You can read more here. 
• Applying For Finanacial Aid: The government of Canada has a one time financial assistance program that is a non-taxable benefit. Each person 18+ can receive $3000 and each dependent child $1500.  

There are still more things we are researching and working on, so stay tuned for more updates on this. 

4. There are some unique resources set up for Ukrainians:

• Ukrainian Free Store: There is a Pop-up Ukrainian free store downtown open Wednesdays and Saturdays where you can find toiletries, clothes and other items your guest family may want and need. They are also seeking donations and most in need of basic necessities – shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, socks, underwear and shoes. 
• Children’s Summer Camps: We are still exploring this, but some are offering the experiences at no-cost to Ukrainian refugee children. Check out Camp Bar-v-nok and Camp Oselia
• Useful Facebook Groups: I’m looking on some of the Facebook pages to see if I can find additional information that would be helpful to the family we are hosting. 

5. They Really Become An Extension of Your Family

While we have been helping our guest family navigate many of these things mentioned, they have also blessed us more than we would have ever imagined. Within the first few days, we had heavy rain that resulted in our water wells filling up. They were there helping us reduce the water and even helping us clean out our gutters to avoid further issues. We have enjoyed many home-cooked meals and have extra hands around the house to visit with, play with our boys and aid in the day-to-day. 

They have joined us for our son’s 6th birthday party, have surprised our boys with little gifts (drawing cards, candy and other surprises) and the mom has trusted me to bring her girls to our son’s last day of school activities. We are making new friends and trusting each other to navigate the day-to-day to best support everyone.  

While many describe us as being amazing for this, what people don’t realize is how blessed we are to welcome this beautiful family into our home. They are enriching our lives for the better and our hearts are truly so full because of this experience. 

We have worked together to establish what works in terms of shared roles – cooking, cleaning, spending time with all the children and have worked towards strategies that feel good for all of us and that feels fair and focusing on our individual strengths. 

This is only week one and my family is excited to continue to get to know our guest family and support them on their journey to calling Edmonton and Canada home. 

At TruHome, for me – our role is always to focus on ways we can better build community and I wanted to share this experience with our TruHome friends and followers as being a host family is very much about helping our guests find their TruHome both physically and emotionally here in our beautiful city.  

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