Yuri is a bear. He is a cute, hand-knitted teddy from Australia.
Yuri is also a 40-something member of Ukraine's security forces, playing his part in that nation's war against one of the world's most powerful armies.
Now a project is underway to send 20,000 Yuri bears from Australia to Ukraine to comfort thousands of children displaced by the Russian invasion.
The bears are inspired by Yuri who, 29 years ago, was a sponsored foster child who came to Australia as an 11-year-old boy. His parents had been first responders to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and sent him to the other side of the world to be safe.
Now a husband and father, Yuri has evacuated his own family from Ukraine while staying behind to defend his country.
Debra Richardson took in Yuri as a foster child for several months in 1993, but then lost contact with him for three decades. They later reconnected thanks to the internet and persistence.
"I sent a million emails out to anyone I could find who was named Yuri. That was in about 2018 and I didn't hear anything for a year," Debra said.
"Then I got a message out of the blue one day saying, 'Hello my Australian mummy'.
"It said, 'It is me, it is Yuri, I'm at work but I'll message you when I get home'.
"We've had many conversations and then, back on February 23 this year, we got those reports Russia was going to invade Ukraine," Debra said.
"Through the course of the next few weeks he needed to evacuate his family from Kiev.
"He is in Kiev but has been to the front line and seen things no-one should ever have to see."
A desire to help
The Yuri bear project started as a need to do something – anything — to help. What started as a small gesture has grown into something greater.
"For weeks I was asking what I could do to help. I was feeling very helpless sitting on the other side of the world and not knowing what we could do to support Yuri," Debra said.
"Eventually in one of our calls I said: 'Yuri, I knit. Can I help by sending kids some teddy bears?''"
"He said, 'That would be amazing because the children have nothing. Many had to pack up and leave at the drop of a hat'.
"I thought initially I could knit 100 and maybe get the local community behind me and make a thousand."
In honour of Yuri
Debra enlisted the support of her employer Ryman Healthcare, which runs retirement aged care homes across Australia and New Zealand.
"We now have the support of a whole heap of elderly people who are helping to knit these teddy bears," Debra said.
"So Project Yuri Bear, named in honour of my foster son was born, and we set a target of 20,000."
After Debra sent Yuri some pictures of the bears which had already been knitted, Yuri said he was humbled and overwhelmed.
Once the 20,000 Yuri bears are made and collected, they will be distributed from the Ukraine-Polish border by an aid organisation.
"I've spoken to our residents and so many of them say it has given them a sense of purpose and community," Debra said.
"They [the children in Ukraine] will have something they can call their own, that when they are scared they can give it a hug, and they'll feel the love that each and every one of our contributors have put into them."
Arriving with just a tiny backpack
Debra recalls Yuri's arrival in Australia in 1993. He had little more than many of those children displaced in Ukraine.
"My husband and I were police officers at the time and there was a call put out asking if there were any police families that would like to foster and sponsor children from the victims of Chernobyl for four weeks," Debra said.
"We did not know who we were getting. We just knew they were aged between seven and 15, and we had to come out on a cold and dark night to the police academy, and there were about 300 kids.
"Yuri had a tiny backpack, with a couple of pairs of underpants, a shirt, a jumper and he had on some jeans that didn't fit.
"He virtually arrived with nothing."
After 12 weeks in Australia, Yuri returned to Kiev, just in time for Christmas.
There was a thank-you message from Yuri's mother but then they lost contact — until Debra's perseverance led to Yuri finding his "Australian mummy" again.
The great Yuri bear knit is underway through September.
If you would like to make a Yuri bear to be given to children in Ukraine, a pattern and instructions are on www.rymanhealthcare.com.au/yuri-bears-for-ukraine.
