Aleksandr and Irina made Aliyah with their two children, daughter Anna and son, Artem. Aleksandr tells their story.

“My wife and I both worked in low paid organizations. I am an ambulance driver and my wife works in Social Services, dealing with children and young people. The work we had was morally difficult for both of us. I have worked in the ambulances for 25 years and spent the last years working in children’s intensive care. This is a very big responsibility as very small children depended on me. Sometimes, I came home depressed when we could not save the life of a child. Having said that, I’d like to work as an ambulance driver in Israel and my wife still wants to work in Social services!! Recently, medical reforms began here in Ukraine and we thought that everything would work out – but actually it became much worse! I understand that this is a transition period and that you have to be patient. Everything probably will get better but how can you survive if prices for products and utilities keep going up and my salary has decreased. My wife’s salary is tiny and we have two teenage children. We suffered for a long time but now have decided to leave everything and make Aliyah! I’m very happy that my wife has a Jewish background and we can go to a country where you don’t need to think all the time about how to feed your family.”

“Irina and I are used to working hard and are not afraid of difficulties. We need to take care of our children – their future. Of course we will miss my parents who are not eligible to make Aliyah. We expect my wife’s parents will join us sooner or later.”

“Ezra gave us a lot of advice and helped financially – thanks to which we could make our international passports. We were also brought to the airport with our luggage and helped there. We were very pleased that there is an organization and people who care so much about ordinary citizens, without demanding anything in return. This is very unusual in today’s climate. We are grateful for your help to our family.”