BOISE, Idaho — As 17-year-old Jasmine Cetin watches what's happening in her home country of Ukraine, she's attending Liberty Public Charter School in Nampa as a foreign exchange student, concerned and anxious about what's happening to her family, friends and country.
“I’m scared that I won’t have a home anymore,” Cetin said. “My grandparents are leaving the city tomorrow, so they'll be safe. My classmates are in Ukraine and they are scared. Some of them have been drafted and I know a lot of the cities in the north are completely bombed and I have friends there too.”
Currently, Cetin’s parents are in Turkey, but she says she's in constant fear of what's happening abroad.
“I just sit and wait until it slows down a bit and as soon as I get a message from my friends and grandma that they're okay, I feel relieved but then as soon as it starts again, I get stressed and I’m scared and shaking about this. I didn’t think I’d leave my home in August and I won’t be able to go back,” Cetin said.
What's happening in Ukraine is also creating uncertainty around her stay in Idaho, because when the school year ends in May, her visa will be up. But Cetin, along with the other students from Ukraine, might not be able to go back home.
“We don't know if there will be some kind of possibility to extend our exchange year so that we can stay here longer and if we can even graduate because we're Ukrainian citizens, so I honestly don't know what's going to happen,” Cetin said.
As a result, her exchange parent, Brad Watson, reached out to Sen. Mike Crapo's office.
“It's opened up our eyes about what's going on in other parts of the world in maybe a way that didn't use to be so immediate for us,” Watson said.
An aide with Crapo’s office told him at this point though, there's so much unknown that it's hard to figure out what will happen as they move toward that end of May departure date for Cetin.
“We're also trying to figure out the graduation piece of this since she's not graduating at home, how does she start working toward other dreams and goals she has for college,” Watson said.
As they wait and hope for better days, Cetin is sharing this message.
“People need to appreciate what they have,” she said. “I’m lucky to be here this year and to be far away from that whole situation because I don't know what we would do if we were in Ukraine right now because it's really impossible to get out of the country.”
Cetin and another student from Ukraine are organizing a march to support Ukraine. It's happening this Saturday at 4:45 p.m. in front of Boise City Hall. Signs of support are encouraged and for folks to wear blue and yellow, which are the Ukrainian colors.
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