Daily News | Merion Mercy junior fled Ukraine, then became a PIAA tennis champion
“When my dad dropped them off at the train station,” Power said, “[Berestetska] told me, ‘I just remember looking at him in the eyes and he was bawling like a little kid.’ He thought he’d never see them again.”
Careful calculations were made each time a new train arrived. Several came and went. They weren’t always confident they could push themselves aboard. Inside the train, a barricade of bodies separated mother from daughter. Ferocity flashed across her mother’s face. Darkness was near. The sun was about to set, she recalled. A minute or two later, the train departed.The train ride took about eight hours. The quarters were close. Berestetska said about eight people were packed in a small room. There was nowhere to sleep. There was no food to eat. Outside the cramped room, she said, the corridors also were packed with people.“I was even using Google Maps to guide them where they were in Ukraine,” Power said.
When they finally arrived in Warsaw, Berestetska said the first two months went quickly. They filled out paperwork to stay in Poland and to secure American visas.stayed in warehouses “I remember that moment because I could feel a lot of people looking at us,” Power said. “We hugged. We broke down. They spent so much time in Poland and we didn’t know if they would get their visas. So, I saw a lot of people were looking at us and smiling, like, ‘Oh, they must’ve come here from Ukraine.’”Power left Ukraine at 17 to play tennis at the University of Akron. She started playing at 6 years old. She also played piano and swam competitively around the same age.
“I cannot imagine my life without music now,” she said. “Now, I would just say thank you to my mother.”
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