Carpentersville native Alex Becker, his wife Larysa Yushchenko, and their dog, Odetta, are among the millions of people who have fled war-torn Ukraine.
That they have safely resettled in Poland is due to legwork done by Becker’s family in the United States, the power of the internet and the kindness of an expat Australian living in the region.
“Tim (Pendlebury) is amazing,” Becker said. “My mom’s family put me in contact with him. He’s been housing and driving around refugees since the conflict began.”
Pendlebury, who hails from Queensland, is a travel and tour director based in Gilowice, Poland, where he lives with his family. He works throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Italy.
Becker’s mother, Karen DeBias, of Carpentersville, explained how Pendlebury came to the rescue.
“I posted my son’s plight on my Facebook page, which is how my cousin Candy (DiDominick, of Seattle) saw it,” DeBias said.
DiDominick took one of Pendlebury’s tours in 2018.
“He mentioned to his group at the time that if they ever needed any help in Europe, they could contact him. So Candy did,” DeBias said.
Pendlebury reached out to DeBias, and then Becker. He directed the couple to the Polish-Ukrainian border at Korczowa, where he met them March 7 after he made a four-drive there.
“The border crossing was a nightmare,” Becker said. “Thousands of people were waiting for hours outside in the cold to first cross the Ukrainian checkpoint, then the Polish checkpoint. I had to carry my dog sometimes because I was afraid she was going to get trampled. “
Pendlebury said the process took about 15 hours. Finally, about 2:30 a.m. March 8, he met the couple and brought them to his home.
“Tim waited for us the whole time,” Becker said. “He let us stay in a spare room until we could find an apartment, which was not so easy. I’m eternally grateful for his hospitality.”
Another family member put Becker in contact with an organization helping refugees based in Katowice, a city of about 300,000.
“I told them I wasn’t looking for free stuff, just help getting an apartment. They found a landlord that was willing to rent a small apartment here to me as long as I paid for six months up front,” Becker said. “Life here is going OK. We’re starting to settle in, but I really miss Kyiv and want to go back soon.”
Becker, 36, teaches world history and geography to students in grades 6-11 at the American International School and University in Kyiv.
“Classes have moved online. Many students have quit, so I’m not sure how much longer the school can stay solvent,” he said.
Becker’s wife, who is Ukrainian, is a private tutor who teaches English to Chinese children. She continues to work virtually too.
Becker, a 2004 graduate of Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville, has a bachelor’s degree in history and social sciences education from Illinois State University. Finding it difficult to land work in the Chicago area, he taught English abroad, first in South Korea, then in China.
“In Shanghai, I met Larysa, who also was teaching English there,” Becker said. “We decided it was easier for me to move to Ukraine than it would be for her to move to the States, so we settled in Kyiv in the summer of 2019, married that October and bought an apartment there last year.”
While residents saw the Russian military buildup for months, “most Ukrainians laughed when I talked about the possibility of a full-scale invasion,” Becker said.
The reality of the war hit very close to home with an explosion early Feb. 25.
“The sky turned red, and I smelled smoke,” Becker said. “From news reports, I gathered that Ukrainian air defense had shot down a Russian jet. Parts of it landed in my neighborhood, heavily damaging an apartment complex a few blocks away from mine.”
Becker said he panicked March 6 as Russians started to encircle Kyiv.
“I didn’t want to not have the option to leave if we had to, so we packed everything essential into two backpacks and headed for the packed train station,” he said.
The train ride to Lviv took 12 hours. With the city essentially full, Becker reached out to family and friends and eventually made contact and arrangements with Pendlebury.
“I didn’t think something like this could happen in this century,” he said. “What Putin is doing in Ukraine is barbaric. … I’m going to miss everything about my old life.”
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
