From Ukraine to Lewistown
United Way director emigrated to US at age 13
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LEWISTOWN--Oksana DeArment is known locally as the executive director of the United Way of Mifflin-Juniata.
But you may not know that she came here from Ukraine in 1992 at age 13. She was visited in Ukraine by her relatives from the U.S. because her cousin wanted to see the country she was from.
Her grandfather, who was the leader of her childhood village, convinced her cousin and uncle to find a way to take her to America as he identifed she was not the type to farm and had been doing extremely well in school as a straight-A student. As hard as it was to see her go, he knew her future was elsewhere because there was not much opportunity there for a scholar.
The village consisted of approximately 100 homes -- some made of brick, others made of mud. Some of the homes were tiny and some were a bit bigger. Most of the homes had more than one generation living in them. It is very common to have three to four generations living in one home in the village she is from and in eastern Europe in general.
"When I was young, 13 for example, I had myself, two sisters, parents and my grandparents on my mother's side all living in our small home," DeArment said.
Her cousin came home to the United States and discussed the prospect with her husband, who had never met DeArment. The husband was not reluctant and said, "Sure, let's do it," as they were unable to have children of their own. The paperwork began.
The F1 student visa was acquired in 1992 when her school records were filed with the U.S. embassy in Moscow after a 30-hour train ride from the town nearest to the village.
"It was the time when the USSR started to fall apart," she said. "When we arrived at the embassy, I had to go in by myself because the appointment was just for me and they were turning people away left and right. I remember there was an older gentleman there that wanted to come to the U.S. because his daughter was getting married and they would not let him through."
She finally was able to meet her cousin's husband in July 1992 when they arrived to fly her to America.
DeArment refers to her cousin and her cousin's husband as her aunt and uncle but also as her "U.S. parents." The couple lived in Collegeville, outside Philadelphia, at the time of DeArment's arrival.
"When I came they enrolled me into the high school since I was coming in as a freshman in grade nine, but I didn't speak any English," DeArment said. "They hired an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher privately to come in twice a week because there was not one available at the school."
An ESL teacher provides lessons and support to students who are not native English speakers. The ESL teacher did not speak Ukrainian, as it is part of an ESL teacher's job to not use the common tongue of the student as a method in forcing the use of the language to be learned.
The family DeArment was living with labeled everything in the house with sticky notes as a tool to teach her English.
"Literally the entire house was covered in stickies and at dinner I would have to speak in English," DeArment said. "I would have to say, 'Please pass the bread.'"
DeArment eventually graduated from New Hope-Solebury High School in Bucks County before enrolling at Dickenson College in Carlisle, where she had a double major of international business and management, and Russian language and literature. While studying as a sophomore, she met her husband and they now live in Lewistown.
They have since had the opportunity to travel the U.S. and DeArment says, although she enjoys Maine and loves Colorado, her favorite place she has ever visited is Disney World in Florida.
DeArment said the climate, environment and terrain in Ukraine is very similar to that found locally in Big Valley.
DeArment has held several different jobs and volunteered in the community since moving here in 2001. She became executive director at the United Way of Mifflin-Juniata in 2017, and her community involvement consisted of being a advisory committee member of the Juniata River Valley Chamber Leadership Institute since 2019, being a member of SUMMIT Early Learning Board of Directors since last year and a Call-A-Ride Service board member since 2018.
DeArment has also been chairman of the Borough of Lewistown Planning Commission from 2011 to 2015 and in 2019 she was recognized as Ambassador of the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce.
In February 2020 she was named one of the Pennsylvania Business Central's "Top 100 People."
In 2002 the DeArments started a family. They have a daughter, Mackenzie, who is an artist. Her work can be found on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
To this day the DeArments send money back to their relatives in Ukraine. The family recently purchased a freezer to help stock foods during the current conflict in case of emergency.
The village is not as yet directly affected by the war as it is somewhat remote, although the sons of the family are at risk of being drafted to fight. DeArment said that retired military members are offering their services instead to keep the young men at home working the fields and supporting their families.