From hell to Harvard: One Ukrainian's escape and how you can help fulfill her dreams
An aerial view of the Harvard Campus featuring Eliot House Clock Tower along Charles River, in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts. - Joe Sohm/Dreamstime/TNS

Fifteen months ago, Alina Beskrovna was huddled with her mother and 30 other Ukrainians in a pitch-black basement in Mariupol, as Russian shells rained down and buildings around them collapsed in flames. I didn't know whether she was alive or dead. Shortly before the Russian invasion, Beskrovna had been my fearless interpreter and appointment fixer when I reported from the port city. An IT specialist with an MBA from Lehigh University, she never imagined the horrors that lay ahead. Yet this month, against all odds, after an odyssey that required incredible guts and smarts, Beskrovna is prepari...