Olha Kucheriava feels blessed to call Bayfield and the Manypenny Bistro her new home.
As the eatery gears up for what’s typically its busy tourist season, Kucheriava stands as the establishment’s newest server by way of her war-torn homeland of the central Ukraine town of Dnipro.
“I had a very good life before the war started,” Kucheriava told NBC15.com. After the Russian invasion, Kucheriava estimates that it was only days before the violence reached her up close and personal.
“Very near my home where I live they put bombs,” she added.“After that, I think I need to leave the country because it’s dangerous, and if I have a chance to leave, I don’t want to die.”
With nothing more than a backpack, Kucheriava hit the road, in desperate search of safer surroundings.
While Kucheriava was desperately doing everything she could to push her way out of Ukraine, someone back in Bayfield was doing everything he could to open doors for her there.
Just two years before, Kucheriava met Mursel Demirkol while both were working in Turkey. While raised there, Demirkol now works lives in Bayfield and owns Manypenny Bistro.
“I was watching the news and it was really scary, they were constantly bombing and they were really close to her city,” Demirkol told NBC. He and Kucheriava have been dating long distance and became engaged over a year ago.
The two were in constant phone contact during the early days of the war, with Demirkol sharing,
“one night I told her to just get away, jump the train.”
After days and several train rides, Kucheriava made her way to Hungary, and soon Mexico before arriving in the states.
“I fly to San Diego and rented a car and I picked her up in Tijuana,” Demirkol added.
From there, it was on to Bayfield, where it didn’t take long for Kucheriava to conclude “here it’s like very peaceful, you know.”
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