SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A Seminole County teacher with ties to both the former Soviet Union and Ukraine says her heart is breaking over the conflict between the two countries.
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Nataliya Maynard is an ESOL teacher at Rock Lake Middle School in Longwood. Maynard was born in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s, but says she also has ties to Ukraine.
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“I’ve always been conflicted,” Maynard said. “Yes, I was born in the 70s in the USSR, and I had a birth certificate from the USSR, but my passport, and school diploma, and university diploma are all from Ukraine, so I’m a citizen of the Ukraine.”
Maynard says the images of war she’s seeing from Ukraine are heartbreaking. She says she still has friends there, and Russian propaganda is keeping them from getting the full story.
“My heart is breaking,” Maynard said. “It’s whenever we are pulling ourselves apart, whether we’re Ukrainians or Russians, we all considered ourselves just Soviet Union, at least that’s my generation and older generations.”
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However, she says those who are ten years younger may feel differently.
“They don’t want to associate themselves with Russians, if they’re Ukrainian, so the conflict is growing bigger thanks to all the events that happened recently.”
Maynard is looking into designing a t-shirt to sell in order to raise money for the people of Ukraine who are suffering, but she’s also asking all Russian citizens in the United States to show their support.
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“Show your real support,” Maynard said. “Show that you are not just protests, but that you are against Putin and against the war…You need to be able to speak up the words of freedom, so please don’t stay aside.”
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