From Ukraine to Iowa: Delivering Hope

When Koast Tsymbal was growing up in Ukraine, he saw the U.S. on a map and dreamed of the day he could travel to the place where “everyone lives their best life.” In 2021, the dream was realized when he was awarded an international student exchange scholarship and flew to Iowa for his junior year at Johnston High School.  However, his time here has brought a bittersweet mix of emotions: excitement, fear, heartache and hope.

Koast dove into American life. He played wide receiver on the football team, joined wrestling and spent hours studying with aspirations of becoming a computer or aerospace engineer. His scholarship required him to complete at least 30 volunteer hours.  He loved helping at churches, the library and community events.  His host mom invited him to join her volunteer efforts at Joppa, delivering food, supplies and friendship to camps of unsheltered people.

“In Ukraine, we have a stereotype that everyone in the U.S. is living their best life.” Koast, however, discovered that homelessness also exists in Iowa.  “This was a completely different side of the country I didn’t know about,” he says.  “One lady we helped didn’t have shoes or socks.  I was shocked.”

Inspired to help, Koast started giving more time to Joppa, delivering food to camps and following up with people who had recently moved into apartments.  “I most love talking to the people and hearing about their life experiences,” he says.  “I feel better that I’m trying to make a difference.”

Then, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Koast was terrified for his parents and his 13-year-old brother, who lived 94 miles away from Kyiv in the city of Zhytomyr.  Thankfully, he maintained frequent contact with them, but he would hear bomb sirens in the background, and his family was constantly fleeing to emergency shelters.  Anxiety attacks plagued him until his family fled to Poland. Although this anxiety and depression forced Koast to stop volunteering at Joppa for a while, he realized staying involved helped him deal with the stress of the war.

“The whole Joppa community just rallied around me and supported me.  They asked how I was doing and if I needed anything.  It felt so encouraging.”

With the support of Koast’s host family, neighbors and everyone at Johnston High School, he organized a Joppa donation drive for Global Youth Service Day in April.  He put up posters, handed out brochures and collected more than 1,000 items from the community, which he transported from his garage to Joppa.

Koast logged more than 150 volunteer hours and continues to serve at Joppa.  Because of the war, he will stay at Johnston High for his senior year.  When he does return home, he hopes to put what he’s learned at Joppa into action for his country.

“We had many homeless people in my city before the war, and I’m sure it’s really bad now.  I would love to go back home and do the same thing Joppa is doing here.”

 You can help people like Manny transition out of homelessness by giving at joppa.org/donate.
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