On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. In the seven months since, Ukrainians have fled their homeland in search of a safe country to live, work, and stabilize their families.
Recognizing its role as a crucial provider of international transportation, FlightHub Group leapt into action, creating partnerships with frontline workers GlobalMedic and not-for-profit 4Ukraine.ca to fly people to relief efforts or away from danger.
Vitalii Bushuliak arrived at FlightHub in June, having fled the crisis in Ukraine. He shared his story with us in his own words.
On the morning of February 24th, I woke up to alerts from work chat. People were writing about the start of the war. I felt like I hadn’t woken up and it was a dream. Like I should wake up soon and go back to my normal life.
Unfortunately, it was not a dream and in the evening, my wife and I decided to leave our country.
There was a huge line at the Romanian border. There are about 40 kilometres between our house in Ukraine and the checkpoint border with Romania. In normal times, it takes about 50 minutes to drive to Romania. But we left our house on the 24th at 7 pm and we were in Romania on the 27th at 9 am. From there we decided to go to my parents in Italy.
Having lived for a couple of days in Italy, I realized that my salary is hardly enough to rent an apartment and live in Italy. Therefore, I warned my employer that I would try to look for a job in Italy. My employer said this is my last working day and I can look for a job wherever I want.
I found an ad for an open web developer position at FlightHub and submitted my CV.
On the 10th of March, I received a response from Cassidey, she wrote that the company was ready to consider my candidacy. I met with Cassidey and then had a technical interview with Ezequiel, my future manager. I also met with Sona and Katherine about the necessary documents to work at FlightHub.
My colleagues helped us a lot with obtaining a visa and in mid-May, my wife and I received our visas. The company offered to pay for our tickets from Italy to Montreal and the first three months of Airbnb. It sounded too good to be true, but it was. It is!
My first working day was on the 1st of June and I’m still shocked about all the benefits of working here. Free food and gym membership, funding for continuing education, insurance, electric/hybrid car subsidy, unlimited vacation and so on.
It hurts a lot what is happening in Ukraine and I am very grateful to those who help Ukraine as a country and Ukrainians individually.
An interesting observation here, it happened on the second day after our arrival here. We went to print documents and met a man who left his home in Pakistan a few years ago because of the war. Then we went with these documents to the bank and met a woman who was forced to leave her home in Libya because of the war. This place seems bright even in the darkest time. We are glad that we are here, but we are really worried about our loved ones who are staying in Ukraine. If you have the opportunity to help Ukraine or at least one Ukrainian, please do so.
Thank you FlightHub for supporting Ukraine and for a great opportunity for me!
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