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Balinese hoteliers host Ukrainian ex-employee's family seeking refuge from war
A Balinese family offered temporary refuge to the family of a Ukrainian former employee who sought shelter from the war in their home country.
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Ida Widowati Wijaya (left) and Hanna Liubychenko share an embrace. Ida, her family and friends hosted Hanna, her two daughters, her sister and the sister’s baby for almost two months in Bali after the Ukrainian family fled the war. (The Jakarta Post /Ni Komang Erviani)
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hocked and terrified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Hanna Liubychenko and her two daughters fled to Poland in early March. Plagued by fear and anxiety, the family has found at least temporary peace in Bali.
“Bali is a home for me,” the 36-year-old told The Jakarta Post on June 12, several weeks after the family arrived and just two days before they had to leave Indonesia.
At least 7.3 million people have fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion, more than half to Poland. An estimated 7 million Ukrainians have been displaced in the country, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
Liubychenko’s family lived in Irpin, a small city just 15 minutes by car from the capital Kyiv.
When the war broke out, Hanna and her daughters managed to leave the country but her husband Dimitry had to stay behind, as the Ukrainian government allowed only women, children and the elderly to evacuate.
A chance for the family to take refuge on the “Island of the Gods” came in April, when a former employer contacted Dimitry.
Dimitry worked for three years as a chef at a Nusa Dua restaurant owned by Balinese hotelier Ngurah Wijaya and his wife Ida Widowati Wijaya, who knew the couple before they were married.
