(NewsNation) — Even though he’s been in the United States for over 30 years, Ben Sterciuc remembers what it was like to be a refugee in Hungary, then Austria, fleeing Romania’s communist regime.
“I have those feelings and that understanding of what it means to walk through places and not be seen, being homeless, on the streets in Budapest or Vienna,” he said.
Stericiuc works as a nurse in Seattle, and founded a nonprofit, Vital Solutions, helping people in Africa, Pakistan and Romania. Because of the Russia-Ukraine war and situation at the Ukrainian border, they’ve shifted their work to aiding refugees over there.
Stericiuc said he’s currently based out of Suceava, Romania, which is 45 kilometers from the border crossing of Siret.
“Considering all of the different elements that kind of came together in this moment, I have no doubt that I have to be here, I have to help,” Stericiuc said. “I’m equipped to help because I know what it feels like to be a refugee myself.”
Refugees do not want to leave their home, Stericiuc said.
“A refugee is someone who is forced, by the circumstances, whether it is an abusive regime or a war, or some sort of extreme circumstance…. to actually flee that what they know to be their home, to be their family, to be their country,” he said.
Russia’s attacks have caused over 3.2 million people to leave Ukraine, some with just a backpack or suitcase with them. Many are children, going to an unknown destination, Stericiuc pointed out.
“We ask people to just consider that we are human beings,” Stericiuc said. “
So far, Vital Solutions has helped tens of thousands of people cross into Romania.
The organization provides help to Ukrainian refugees by providing them urgent medical care,mental health counseling and spiritual support, and logistical help, such as giving them tents and a place to be received.
From there Vital Solutions helps them go to a nearby shelter, where there are translators and more support for the refugee’s various needs.
Some refugees head to Western Europe or America. Others, who Stericiuc calls “the optimists” stay in Romania to wait out the war. In those cases, Stericiuc tries to find them long-term solutions, and get their kids in school.
“We ask my fellow Americans, see them, see us, be with us,” Stericiuc said. “Pray for us and consider me and every other refugee that’s coming through just another fellow human being.”