My name is Julia. I am a Ukrainian woman, a mother of two wonderful daughters. I’ve always been good at sales and organizing things, but my real story began on February 24, 2022, when everything I knew disappeared in one morning.

In Ukraine, I had my whole life planned for the next 10 years. I ran a small family business making honey and bee products. I always dreamed of becoming a project manager, but I was scared to try. I thought I didn’t have enough experience, and my English wasn’t good enough. There was always something stopping me.

Then the war started. I grabbed my two daughters and took them to Poland to keep them safe. This move was completely unexpected. Like everyone else, I thought the war would end in 2-3 months and we would go back home. But after 2-3 months came the terrible realization – this was going to last much longer. Suddenly, I wasn’t planning my life for 10 years anymore. I was just trying to survive each day in a foreign country with my children, not knowing when or if we could ever go home. War taught me something painful but important: don’t put your life off until tomorrow, because tomorrow might never come.

For almost a whole year, I felt completely lost. I couldn’t say out loud what I wanted or what I should do next. I had no plans at all. During this time, I went through serious depression and got treatment. Only now am I starting to find myself again. I’m looking for what I really love to do, and I want to follow my dreams. Finally, I realized that I want to be a project manager. I’m sure about this now, and I know I love it. I believe I can make it happen.

I will always be grateful to Polish people for everything they did for us and how they welcomed us when the war started. They opened their hearts and homes to millions of Ukrainian refugees. But as time passed, things became more difficult in ways that are hard to talk about. Sometimes you could hear angry voices in the store: “Go back to Ukraine.” My children faced problems at school too. Someone even slashed our car tires. These might seem like small things, but they hurt. But what scared me most was the deep fear that the war might reach Poland too, especially when the Polish government started actively preparing for it – emergency alerts, military training, and constant reminders that war could come closer. When Canada offered us visas, we had to make another difficult choice. Leave the country that saved us and start completely over again, or stay and face an uncertain future. We chose Canada.

I’ve been in Canada for 10 months now, and I’m starting my life from zero for the second time – and this time, it’s even harder. I knew it would be incredibly difficult, but I never imagined it would be THIS hard. The most difficult part for me was finding a job, just like for many people here. Even if you’re smart and experienced, even if you have two university degrees, most employers only care about what your hands can do. After looking for work for 2 months, I finally took a job as a hotel cleaner because I really needed the money. This change disappointed and saddened me so much. I couldn’t understand why I spent so many years studying just to end up cleaning.

But the hardest moment was when we had to use a food bank for the first time in our lives. I felt so ashamed. For the first time in my life, I felt so poor that I couldn’t afford food for my family. This was incredibly difficult for me because we always used to be able to buy whatever we wanted to eat. Standing in that line, I felt like I had lost everything – not just my home, but my dignity too.

But I have some skills that help me deal with difficult situations. I have close friends who fill me with positive energy and believe in me more than I believe in myself. They believe this is only temporary. And I have an inner quality – I never give up.

Looking back now, 10 months later, I can say that I managed to find a job. It’s not my dream job, but it’s close to it – I work as a procurement specialist finding wholesale suppliers so Canadians can buy candies and chocolate at affordable prices. I’m preparing for an important certification to become a project manager, and I also volunteer with PMI, helping them with marketing.

I decided to help IWSO because in Warsaw, I worked at the Women’s Rights Center for a whole year. I know very well what difficult situations girls face and how much they need support. I’m very happy that my small sponsorship contribution can change someone’s life for the better, give someone a new start, new hope.

I think each of us should be a little kinder to the people around us, and then we will live in a happier world. My dream is to build my future in Canada, improve my English, and learn French so I can contribute even more to developing this country that gave us a chance for a new life and give my children a better future here.

Every small step forward matters. Every person who believes in you matters. And every chance to help someone else matters too. This is what I’ve learned on my journey from Ukraine to Canada, and this is what keeps me moving forward every day.