A Bit Of Ukraine Thrives In Southington

SOUTHINGTON, CT — When Southington resident Alexandra Gizhitsa-Anderson, 34, came to the United States to start a new life 18 years ago, Ukraine wasn't at war.

It wasn't being invaded by an evil dictatorship bent on its destruction.

It wasn't watching its buildings, bridges and infrastructure destroyed at the hands of murderous Russians at Russian President Vladamir Putin's command.

And it wasn't watching men, women and children being slaughtered in their own homeland by invaders they once shared a nation with not so long ago.

Life there after 1991 independence was, she said Monday, very much like it is in the U.S. People went to work, raised families and didn't fear for their existence.

But here we are in 2022 and the homeland of Gizhitsa-Anderson — who used to be just Alexandra Gizhitsa — is torn apart, causing her to have a heavy heart for both her still-proud nation and her war-ravaged home city, Odessa.

Speaking before the Southington Town Council earlier this month, Gizhitsa-Anderson — now a married mother of two daughters and a member of the local community — expressed gratitude to the town for taking in Ukrainian refugees, including family members, and recounted her personal situation since tanks rolled into her home country Feb. 24.

These days, Gizhitsa-Anderson is the proud mother of her daughters Lilith and Victorian Anderson and wife to Mark Anderson.

For her personally, she said she was lucky to be living in Southington and not Ukraine, but her heart still ached for loved ones overseas who, she said, are still in "grave danger."

Often emotional and choking back tears at times, Gizhitsa-Anderson expressed gratitude for her American community and awe for the heroism of her Ukrainian friends and family.

"This is a speech that I wrote from the heart. We are extremely happy in this town and this is mostly thanks to you," she said. "It is hard to put into words what is going on in our homes today."

Within a month of fighting, Gizhitsa-Anderson rushed to Europe to navigate the chaos and bureaucratic red tape and helped secure American journeys for her mother, 19-year-old sister and her 11-year-old brother.

Since then, her family members have set up shop in Southington, the way she did nearly two decades ago and they're getting used to life here.

Gizhitsa-Anderson's local synagogue, the Chabad House in Simsbury, also provided some logistical aid to the effort, offering help for Ukrainian Jews displaced all over because of the war.

As for her family's life in Ukraine when the war started, Gizhitsa-Anderson recounted the horror in a column she wrote for The Forward, an independent nonprofit Jewish news website.

It was written April 13.

"I’ve lived in the United States since 2005, but my mother, sister and brother live in a small Ukrainian village that Russian forces have been heavily bombarding since the war began. In the first week of the war, my sister Zhenya ran to the bomb shelter 44 times," wrote Anderson in The Forward.

"On the night that the Zaporizhia nuclear power station was bombed, my 12-year-old brother Misha had snuck upstairs to play a videogame; a bomb fell on their street and blew out all of the windows," Anderson continued in The Forward.

"Misha was paralyzed with fear. Zhenya didn’t want to leave at first and wanted to join the army, but seeing that she couldn’t get Misha to stop crying, she and my mother knew it was time to leave Ukraine."

After more than six months of war, Ukraine celebrated its independence last week, Aug. 24 — even after many experts predicted the country's defeat in a few short days after Putin's invasion.

And the war appears to be dragging on with no end in site.

Though Ukrainian resolve remains high as U.S., European and world allies continue to support Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid, a somber reality has gripped Ukrainians both at home and abroad.

"I can tell you that this war has changed my life forever. The Southington community has given our family a way to get rescued and a new life and we thank you very much," Gizhitsa-Anderson said to the council.

Southington officials welcomed Gizhitsa-Anderson's family and other Ukrainians with open arms.

"What you're going to hear tonight is a story of incredible courage," said Southington Town Council Chairperson Victoria Triano. "We're all watching this with great sadness. None of us have been in that situation."

Meanwhile, Gizhitsa-Anderson is working as a marketing financial budget controller with Acronis. Acronis has a global nonprofit arm called the Acronis Cyber Foundation, whose goal is to enhance and improve all people's access to information via technology.

Acronis has partnered with UNICEF regarding various Ukrainian relief initiatives, something near and dear to Anderson's heart.

Now home from Europe, but still watching the war's developments on the news, Gizhitsa-Anderson said she realizes life may, simply, never be the same.

"On Feb. 24, our lives changed in a horrifying way," Gizhitsa-Anderson told the council and community.

For more information on the Acronis Cyber Foundation and Anderson's story, click on this link.

To read Anderson's full column in The Forward, click on this link.

For more information on the Chabad House's Ukraine Jewish Relief Fund, click on this link.