From Weekly Calls to Kraków: How One ENGin Volunteer Built Friendships That Crossed an Ocean
- ENGin Program
- 13 hours ago
- 5 min read
On October 1, 2023, Alex sent his first message to Maria. It was a simple introduction, the kind that every ENGin volunteer sends at the start of a new conversation partnership. Neither of them could have predicted that two and a half years later, they would be standing together in the shadow of Wawel Castle in Kraków, unfolding a Ukrainian flag and attempting to sing a Ukrainian song that Alex had mentioned somewhere along the way in one of their calls.
But that is exactly what happened. And it is the kind of story that reminds us why ENGin exists.
Who Is Alex?
Alex is an English-speaking volunteer from the United States who joined ENGin with a straightforward goal: to offer his time and language skills to someone who needed them. What he did not expect was that one hour a week would quietly grow into something far larger than a language exchange.
Over the course of two and a half years, Alex built a deep friendship with Maria Zagrebelna, a Ukrainian student he first connected with through the program. He later began weekly conversations with a second buddy, Yulia Maistrenko, in November 2024. By the time he boarded a flight to Poland in the spring of 2026, he had spoken with Maria's parents, her sister, and several of her friends on Zoom. He had had long conversations with Yulia's children and her husband. Both women had met his entire family. What had started as an exercise in volunteering in Ukraine, offering English conversation practice to someone living through extraordinarily difficult circumstances, had become one of the most meaningful chapters of his life.
A Meeting Two and a Half Years in the Making
Alex and Maria had actually tried to meet earlier. They had considered Albania over a year before Kraków became the plan, but work complications got in the way. The wait, it turned out, only made the reunion more meaningful.
Kraków was chosen as the most practical meeting point for everyone involved, and after months of anticipation, the trip finally came together. What followed was four days of walking the city, touring its surroundings, sharing meals, and closing a distance that screens had never quite been able to bridge.
"Yulia ran up to me in Planty park, and then Maria did a similar run in a different part of town. Those first hugs, and the dozens after, were full of indescribable emotions, attempting to make up for the months/years of screen-only time," Alex recalled.
There were happy tears, countless hugs and there was the moment beneath Wawel Castle when the group unfolded a Ukrainian flag together — a quiet, powerful gesture that needed no explanation.
More Than an English Tutor — A Friend to a Whole Family
One of the most striking aspects of Alex's experience as an ENGin volunteer is how far beyond the weekly call his relationships grew. Over the months of conversation practice, he had become a familiar face to people he had never met in person — Maria's family, Yulia's children, their husbands, their friends.
He had also, in a move that speaks to the kind of person he is, introduced his two Ukrainian buddies to each other. Noticing that Maria and Yulia were both working mothers with sons of similar ages and overlapping personalities, he connected them. They met in Kyiv, became friends, and by the time Kraków arrived, the three of them walked into the reunion already knowing each other — already a community.
"I introduced these two buddies to each other a while ago, still in Kyiv — thought they had compatible personalities and could support each other as working moms with similar age boys," Alex explained.
This is something that goes well beyond what most people imagine when they picture an English tutor or conversation partner. Alex was not simply correcting grammar or suggesting vocabulary. He was showing up, week after week, as a consistent and caring presence in the lives of two women navigating work, motherhood, and life during wartime.
Poland, Gdańsk, and 37 Countries
After four days in Kraków, Maria headed off to visit her sister elsewhere in Poland, while Alex and his wife Olga took Yulia north to Gdańsk. There, the trip took another unexpected turn: Alex was reuniting not only with his ENGin buddies, but also with Dalad, a friend from Thailand he had not seen in 32 years.
"I got to introduce my newest friend to one from long ago," he wrote. "I realized that I had met Dalad a couple of years before I met my wife, and while Yulia was a preschooler."
Poland had not been on Alex's travel list before any of this. It became his 37th country visited — added not by a travel itinerary, but by friendship.
The trip was full of small, memorable exchanges: day-old New York bagels shared with Ukrainian friends, kvas and poppy rolls and a generous supply of Roshen chocolates offered in return, and a bottle of Vermont whiskey-barrel-aged maple syrup tucked into someone's bag for the journey home. They were also given two Ukrainian flags, including one that had been carried near the front line and signed by 50 defenders of Ukraine, and a pin with the red viburnum, symbols that Alex and his wife say they will treasure for the rest of their lives.
When Immersion Actually Works
Among the quieter highlights of the trip was a moment that Alex clearly savored. While Yulia was on a phone call with family back home in Ukraine, she found herself reaching for an English word before the Ukrainian one came to her.
"An early sign of thinking in English! Immersion works," Alex wrote, with unmistakable pride.
This is, after all, what volunteering in Ukraine through ENGin is designed to do — not to teach a language in a classroom sense, but to create the conditions for real fluency to develop through real conversation, real friendship, and real human connection.
What Comes Next
Alex is already planning his next ENGin reunion. This summer, he hopes to welcome his third buddy to the United States. Three buddies, three friendships, three stories that all began with a simple first message and an hour set aside each week.
"Life-long friendships confirmed," he wrote, at the end of a note that was equal parts travel diary, love letter to his buddies, and quiet proof of what this program can build. "Truly a life-changing experience."
Your Story Could Start Today
Alex's experience is not exceptional because he is an exceptional person, although he clearly is. It is exceptional because he showed up consistently, stayed curious, and let the friendship grow wherever it wanted to go. That is something any ENGin volunteer can do.
Somewhere out there is a Ukrainian student who could use exactly what you have to offer: your language, your time, and your willingness to be a friend across the distance. You do not need a teaching degree or experience as an English tutor. You need one free hour a week and the desire to make it count.
Ready to write your own story? Sign up as an ENGin volunteer and become part of a community that knows exactly how life-changing one conversation can be.
