Jordi and Olha met the Vozniak family during the Orthodox Easter in Limerick.
25 year old Bohdan, his younger sister Sviatoslava and Mother Liubomyra are all from Ivano-Frankisvk in Western Ukraine. When Russian missiles hit their city airport, they were faced with the difficult decision to leave their home out of fear. If that wasn’t difficult enough, they also had to leave their father/husband behind too.
Bohdan was diagnosed with profound to severe hearing loss when he was 2½ years old and has been wearing hearing aids ever since. Unfortunately, the last pair of hearing aids he had were broken and unrepairable.
Upon arriving in Ireland in March, the Vozniak family were relocated to a Hotel in Limerick. Neither Bohdan or his mum understand English, and rely heavily on his sister Sviatoslava, who is also currently assisting at a school in Ireland. Currently, the only way Bohdan can communicate with others is by lip reading, but due to the language barrier, this makes things much harder. A major observation made by Jordi, is that without his hearing aids, Bohdan is slowly becoming nonverbal which can lead to isolation and withdrawal from social situations. Jordi and Olha knew that this was a family in need of help, to reconnect and re-establish that social bond they once knew and begin living life to the fullest again.
A message from Liubomyra (Bohdan's Mother)
The history of every Ukrainian family now is anxiety and unrest, a tragedy of war. People who have hearing problems find it even harder, because they are deprived of the greatest joy - the joy of complete communication. This young handsome guy is Bohdan Vozniak from Ukraine. He is 25 years old; he has severe hearing loss. Despite his disability, Bohdan lived actively in Ukraine, volunteered, helped on duty at the checkpoint and was eager to enlist in the army to defend his homeland. Bohdan reacts very empathetically, sympathetically to all events and is very worried. My daughter, Bohdan and I left Ukraine because it was dangerous to stay in the city - they bombed the airport. At that time, his hearing aids were broken and could not be repaired. Now, with his loss, he can only lip read as he does not hear most noises or sounds, and communication is even harder for him, because he does not understand everything he sees. But Bohdan is a physically healthy guy and really wants to find a job, even meet girls and dreams of having a family. And the fact that Bonavox wants to help Bohdan live a full life - to hear - to provide him with hearing aids, the family perceives this as a gift from God, because we do not have the funds to buy them. The Irish are incredible people: sincere, compassionate, with a big human heart. No one has ever cared so much about our family; we can only pray for your health and accept your help gratefully. Translated by Olha Palamarchuk