Each week at Global BC, we highlight our stories to bring a bright spot to your Friday and into the weekend.
Here are five stories we want to share:
‘Pinching myself’: Vancouver bakery owner reunited with sister from Ukraine
The owner of a Ukrainian bakery in Vancouver is breathing a sigh of relief now that her sister and nephew have made it safely to Canada from their war-torn country.
“We were driving from the airport, and I was pinching myself to check whether or not it’s true,” Iryna Karpenko told Global News.
“We haven’t seen each other for eight years.”
Ukrainian woman, teenage sons arrive safely in Vancouver after escape from Mariupol
After fleeing the besieged port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian woman and her two 13-year-old sons have arrived safely in Vancouver.Victoria Serheiienko was reunited with her best friend, Yuliya Cherman, who is also from Mariupol and who lives in Maple Ridge, for the first time in more than three years after arriving at Vancouver International Airport late Tuesday night.
“It’s emotional, so emotional, and we will be crying together,” said Cherman, holding her friend in a tearful hug in the arrivals terminal. “The best thing is, they are alive.”
“I still can’t believe it. For me, it’s like a dream, like a daydream. I am just so happy they made it, and I can help them. This is the start of our new life together.”
This Is BC: Band provides inclusive performance for the deaf
The movie CODA won the best picture at the Oscars this year. And here in B.C., there’s a band called HALF/ASIAN with Amy the CODA that is making a difference in the lives of deaf people.
As Jay Durant tells us on This Is BC, the musicians are drawing from their own life experiences.
Kamloops pipeliner makes it to ‘American Idol’ top 24
An 18-year-old pipeline worker from Kamloops has backflipped his way into the top 24 in American Idol.
Cameron Whitcomb won judges over Monday with a performance of Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ and punctuated the song with what’s fast becoming his trademark backflip.
The B.C. export has said he has little to no experience with performing music but he continues to gain the support of judges Lionel Ritchie, Katy Perry and Luke Brian with his seemingly boundless supply of energy and tone.
Vancouver survivor of Rwanda genocide hopes coffee company will help heal trauma
A Vancouver resident who survived the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi nearly 30 years ago has launched a coffee company to raise money for fellow survivors’ mental health needs.
Not only does Neza Coffee source its beans from coffee farms run by Nadine Umutoni’s family and neighbours back home in Rwanda, but a portion of all profits will also go toward mental health and trauma resources for survivors of the brutal massacre — both in Rwanda and in Vancouver.
“It’s my life’s calling,” Umutoni told Global News.
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