Before she came to Boston to study, Masha was born and grew up in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Her family still lives there, under the regime of an evil psychopath invading a neighboring country, committing genocide of those who he calls his "brothers", and removing anyone that gets in the way of his ultimate plan: to reunite the former countries of the Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Ukraine...you know the ones) under HIS power; (blah blah blah he amended the constitution to allow himself to be president for another term...blah blah) - he has completely lost it and the people are paying the price.
Masha's family (and friends) in Yekaterinburg (like the majority of the civilian population in the country) do NOT support Putin and are in horror of his actions. They have family from Kiev that had to flee their homes for a neighboring country. Masha has been sending money to her parents regularly in $, but right now it's impossible to transfer dollars to them due to the sanctions, and the ruble is currently completely worthless. Food is scarce and very expensive. Masha's parents are also older and they require medicine which is near impossible to get (or send).
While Russia is the only home they've ever known, Masha's parents don't want to live under this oppressive regime anymore and they want to be reunited with Masha and Ben, and baby Devin. Masha is working with an immigration lawyer to start the process to try to get them out of Russia and to Vermont. The immigration legal fees are ~ $3,500 per person, so they're looking at a $7,000 minimum unexpected expense.
