‘She’s so strong.’ Fresno exchange student from war-torn Ukraine finds ways to cope
Oleksii and Olena Borodii, a Ukrainian man married to a Russian woman and both living in Ukraine, shared a dream for their daughter and only child: They wanted her to travel to the U.S. and study to become a psychologist.
Mariia Borodii, a senior at Fresno Pacific and the No. 1 singles player on the Sunbirds women’s tennis team, is well on her way.
That knowledge, along with the frequent contact she has maintained with her parents, have helped steady Borodii’s spirits since Russia launched its military invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The conflict literally hit home when Russian troops attacked and seized the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia — the city where Mariia was born and where her parents still reside.
“It’s a blessing to me honestly because now I can call them at any time,” Borodii said. “I call them every hour pretty much because they cannot sleep. They hear sirens almost every hour.”
Borodii found out about the increased bombings in Zaporizhzhia during a WhatsApp call with her mother Thursday — Ukraine is 10 time zones ahead of Fresno — and it caused her to break down momentarily during practice.
“She told me, ‘Please, never stop. Even if something were to happen to us,’ ” Borodii said. “That’s pretty hard to hear from your parents.”
“Pretty hard” is an understatement. Those words would turn most 22-year-olds into an emotional wreck.
Since the invasion began, Borodii has tried to find other ways to occupy her thoughts. That means limiting her exposure to both legitimate news and social media as well as focusing on tennis and her classes.
This is Borodii’s fourth year as an exchange student in the U.S. and third at Fresno Pacific, the small Christian university tucked into a leafy neighborhood of southeast Fresno. Long enough for her to develop a network of friends willing to offer their support.
“Her family is safe and she’s thankful for that, but she doesn’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after or when she’ll be able to see her parents again,” said Sanne Brull, an exchange student from The Netherlands who is Borodii’s close friend and teammate.
“So it’s been tough. Also for us, because we cannot do much. We can just be there for her, we can pray for her and we can support her. She’s so strong. She just keeps going.”
Playing her best tennis
Borodii’s mental fortitude during the most trying of circumstances has amazed those around her. Never more so than during a three-set victory over the 13th-ranked singles player in NCAA Division II on the day after Russian troops crossed the border.
Brull and FPU coach George Rodriguez agreed Borodii is playing her best tennis despite the obvious distraction.
“She’s had a big leap in her level of play from last year to this year, and just recently she’s playing with a focus I haven’t seen from her before,” Rodriguez said.
While tennis has served as a mental escape for Borodii (“Without tennis I don’t think I would be able to survive all this pressure”), she doesn’t think the conflict in Ukraine and her recent success are related.
Rather, Borodii credited her 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Biola’s Colbeyshae Emery to the inspiration she drew from knowing her parents were watching the match over the internet. Borodii trailed 5-3 in the third set before rallying to win four straight games.
“I didn’t know if they were actually watching me,” Borodii said. “But I was hoping they were and it helped me knowing they were safe. I was so focused in my match. I really wanted to win, for them, for Ukraine and for my team.”
Invasion ‘just breaks my heart’
Being half Ukranian and half Russian with relatives and friends in both nations, Borodii’s thoughts on the conflict aren’t binary. Yes, Russia started the hostilities. But to her, the situation is more complicated and nuanced than right vs. wrong and good vs. evil.
“People in Russia and Ukraine are so closely related, so just the fact that we are fighting just breaks my heart,” Borodii said. “I just want everything to stop. Just have a peaceful conversation to solve the problem without killing.”
Borodii is on track to graduate in May and plans to further her education in the U.S. knowing there’s a chance she may not be able to return to Ukraine, or see her parents, for a long time.
The uncertainty is just another added stress, one FPU hopes to alleviate by offering summer housing and other assistance to Borodii and two fellow Ukrainian-born student-athletes.
“Mariia has been a great member of our community, and we want her to know that she’s got a home here on our campus for as long as she needs it,” said Dale Scully, the university’s vice president for campus life. “We want her to feel safe and that all her needs are being met.”
Borodii told me she is both grateful for, and surprised by, all the support she has received from the FPU community since the conflict began.
“I feel like I’m not alone here,” she said, “and that’s what really keeps me afloat.”
