Stanislav Vadrus was studying violin in Ukraine when war broke out in the country’s Donbas region, preventing him from going home to his family.
Natalia Korchakovska was in Odessa studying to become a dentist when Russia attacked Ukraine earlier this year.
Saturday night, both were far from home as they went with Chattanooga’s Ukrainian Gospel Church youth choir to the doorsteps of its congregants, singing many of the same Christmas carols they knew growing up.
They are but two among several million Ukrainian refugees of war, forced to leave behind loved ones, friends and a home that may never be the same. Now in a foreign land, Vadrus and Korchakovska seek meaning and security in music — and God.