92-year-old woman who fled Ukraine as a child hopes to return to her homeland one last time
WCCO
By John Lauritsen
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — As a child, she fled Ukraine during a war. Now at the age of 92, a Minneapolis woman is looking to return to her homeland and into another war.
Nadia Pishko’s childhood was about survival. Growing up in Lviv, Ukraine, she experienced mass starvation in the 1930s. And during World War II, she and her family fled the country as the Germans and Russians closed in. But her heart never left her homeland.
“How do you say it? The door never closed. The door never closed,” said Nadia Pishko.
She eventually made her way to Minneapolis where she and her husband raised four kids. Now, at the age of 92, she’s looking to return to Ukraine.
“I want to go and stay there before I die,” said Nadia Pishko.
A debilitating stroke in February has added urgency to Pishko’s wish. Her parents and her husband are buried in Lviv, which has felt the impact of the Russian and Ukrainian War.
“We said, ‘Mom, are you sure you really want to go because remember there is a war going on there?’ She goes, ‘You know, I left during a war, and I’ll be going back during a war,'” said Julian Pishko, Nadia Pishko’s son. “She really wanted to go and she started crying. She got very emotional about it.”
Nadia Pishko still has cousins there and she remembers the beauty of the country, before war took over. Her family bought her a plane ticket, and she’s planning to leave later this month.
The journey back won’t be easy. In addition to all the paperwork needed to make this happen, there’s no direct route to Nadia Pishko’s hometown.
“We are going from Iceland to Copenhagen, to Warsaw and then we are going to take a train from Warsaw to Ukraine,” said Howard Dotson.
Dotson is a chaplain and fellow church member who will be accompanying Nadia Pishko on her return home. They are currently looking for care centers around Lviv where she can stay.
“Her stories and her testimony as a refugee can inspire so many Ukrainians that have been on that journey,” said Dotson.
A homecoming more than 80 years in the making. A final trip to fulfill a lifelong dream.
“She is really determined to be there and die there. That’s what she really wants,” said Julian Pishko.
Pishko is scheduled to fly out on Nov. 23.
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