Veronica Oksana Galatan

Veronica Oksana Galatan was born in Ukraine, entering the Croatian Vice-Province of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great in 1998. In 2006, she made her perpetual vows in the Ukrainian Province of the order. She graduated from the National University in Zaporizhia from the Social Pedagogy Department. She served in Croatia, Italy (Cenacolo community), Greece and Ukraine. Currently, she is serving as the vicar of the vice-province in Croatia.

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Refugees from war-hit eastern Ukraine stand in line waiting for departure in a refugee center Sept. 15 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Writing on a bus reads; "Children Evacuation." (AP photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

Simple gestures become hope: Meeting Ukrainian refugees in Croatia

Last year I was assigned to serve in Croatia. After the war in Ukraine started, I joined volunteers to help receive Ukrainian refugees. Every day was full of touching and painful stories; I started to keep a journal.

Basilian sisters with students of the Ukrainian Saturday school of Berehynia, a cultural and educational center in Athens for Ukrainians who emigrated to Greece.

In Ukraine and beyond, life as a Basilian Sister has opened me to other cultures

I am proud that the Sisters of St. Basil the Great are international and that we have an expanded worldview, which I've experienced in Croatia, Italy, Greece, and a Russian-speaking city in Ukraine.