Our Ukrainian-Mexican Marriage
Aug 5, 2025
www.CrossCulturalVoices.org
Natalia Siruk: But I think our main thing that we always talk about it. It's not about who was right, it's more about our culture, which is Christ. So it's not about Ukrainian culture, it's not about Mexican culture, it's not about American culture, because we live in America. It's more about that our foundation is Christ.
Robin Karkafi: Hey everyone, welcome to Cross-Cultural Voices. I'm so glad you're here. I'm Robin.
John Yoder: I'm John.
Maria Makhnach: And I'm Maria.
John Yoder: And Maria, we are so glad to have you now formally as one of the group. Last time we met you for the first time, you shared your story, but this is your first day as one of the trio. Welcome.
Maria Makhnach: Thank you.
John Yoder: So today we're gonna meet two people from very different cultures, from Ukrainian and from Mexican cultures. And we know that people around the world enjoy different kinds of food. So let me ask you, what is your favorite ethnic restaurant somewhere in your neighborhood?
Maria Makhnach: I have two. One is gonna be Tavern. It's an Indian restaurant. The second one is called Holy Land. It is basically Mediterranean. So the owner, it's himself is originally from, I think it's Oman. He’s had the family business that has been going for about 10 years. It's really good. The people are very welcoming and honestly, when you walk in it, it doesn't feel like a restaurant. Your experience, it feels like you entered somebody's home and the service is top notch.
Robin Karkafi: There's in a lot of great places where I'm at, but in our neighboring town is a Palestinian Arabic restaurant. They're called Arabesque. And even my parents said, and they're like ethnically Middle Eastern, they're like, that's the best Middle Eastern food we've ever had! What about you, John?
John Yoder: Four blocks from my home is an absolutely great Indian restaurant called India Palace. They have a lunch buffet as well as an evening time menu, and it's always authentic, tremendous food. And two doors down from India Palace in the same strip mall is a Thai restaurant with some of the best green curry and other kind of egg roll spring rolls and authentic Thai that you'll find anywhere. It is really hard to beat either of those.
Robin Karkafi: John what do we have for today?
John Yoder: Yeah, we've got a great new couple. Their names are Oleg and Natalia. Maria, they actually happen to be friends of yours. Tell us just a little bit about this couple.
Maria Makhnach: Sure. So Natalia and Oleg are a power couple. Natalia was born and raised in Mexico, and then Oleg is originally from Ukraine. Personality wise, they're quite polar opposites. I like to describe Natalia is fire and then Oleg is like water, but they work together.
John Yoder: I totally agree with you. And in fact, next week as we hear part two of their story, they're going to share about their personalities being complete opposites and how that really works for them. But today, they're gonna share more culturally about how different it is to have a Ukrainian and a Mexican married together. With no further ado, let's hear part one of their interviews.
Oleg Siruk: I came here when I was five. I came here with my mom, my dad, my grandma, my grandpa, my aunt and my cousin. We actually moved from Ukraine. And I've been here in Maple Grove, basically is what I've called home since, since 1995. I've been back twice and it has changed a lot, but this is my home now.
I grew up in a fairly conservative Christian family. I am an only child. I don't have any siblings. My mom always keeps telling me she wanted a girl, but she has a daughter now, so she loves her and that is about it.
Natalia Siruk: Hi, yes, my name is Natalia. I'm from Guadalajara, Mexico. I came to the United States when I was 19, but basically my whole, entire lifetime since I was like 5, 7 years old, I've been visiting Minnesota because my dad lives here, and half of my dad's side family lives in Minnesota. So every summer it was Minnesota.
So once a year least I was visiting. And then when I turned 19, it's the time that my dad and my mom decided that I should come to the States and learn English and stay here for six months, a year to just kinda learn a little bit since the whole family's really good in English. I wasn't, and then I decided to stay one year, two years, and here I am, 15 years later, I'm here living in Minnesota, Maple Grove, and now married to this amazing man.
My faith, I am Christian, but my background is Catholic. Most of you might know that Hispanic or Mexicans are very Catholic. Most of the population it's Catholic. I am coming from a very traditional old school Catholic family faith, and I'm basically the first one that changed a little bit and completely Christian now.
Oleg Siruk: I own a Midwest construction and remodeling company, along with my partner Ilia. We do roofing, siding, windows, gutters, and decks. We're out of Plymouth, Minnesota, and I’m a typical Slavic construction owner guy. Her job is a lot more interesting.
Natalia Siruk: Mine is, I do birthday parties for kids. I am an event planner. So I go to people's houses and I do spa birthday parties. I basically go and decorate it, decorate their whole set up tables and chairs, flowers, and we paint their nails, we do all the spa activities, which is cucumbers, facials, hand scrub, toenails. We paint their hands and their toes and all the fun stuff. The name of my business is Adorable Kids Parties.
John Yoder: Did either of you have spa birthday parties when you were kids?
Robin Karkafi: All the time!
Maria Makhnach: No.
John Yoder: Her business is absolutely fascinating to me. I've never heard of anything like it.
Maria Makhnach: Knowing Natalia, I am not surprised that her business is exactly that, 'cause she's very creative. She goes all out, which is totally matches her personality. That's Natalia when she's in, she’s committed all the way.
John Yoder: And one thing I've noticed about Slavic peoples in general, how many of them go into construction. Oleg calls him just another Ukrainian guy with a construction company. I'm amazed at how many Slavic peoples become stone masons and carpenters and roofers. What is it about that?
Maria Makhnach: As far as when it pertains like to our parents? That was the first way to make a living so that you can sustain a family. Generally it's a pretty typical route for a lot of of our parents, because they don't have the language skills and they come to this country already when they're older and like language is not something that's very easy for everybody to learn.
And then if they have older sons, generally it is pretty typical that the son will work alongside with the dad. If the guy is like older or younger, it doesn't really matter. It's more of, he picks up the craft that his dad does, and he's taught a lot of the skills.
John Yoder: As I work with immigrant families that have come to the US, economically, they're at two different strata, right? So you've got the ones who come with education, especially East and South Asians, who have a degree, who are STEM grads, who often land with a six figure income before they come. Or they come here and get their degree and then they get the six figure job.
Others come from refugee camps, they've crossed the border, they've come in other ways. Many of them have never finished high school. Many of them struggle to get a high school diploma in the US. But for them, there are such marvelous opportunities in the trades, to not only go into construction, but to become mechanics, elevator operators, to become bakers, lots of other skills and there are unions that will hire them.
And so I have a deep passion for those who are not educated, who are struggling to make ends meet, that they don't have to spend their lives flipping burgers or ringing a register. That there are these trades like construction that are open to them, and I just deeply respect those who do that.
Robin, what's it like in Canada for those who come to Canada educated, and for those who come with very little education?
Robin Karkafi: It's now a bit more commonplace to respect blue collar workers, people in construction, in the trades. There's actually a big shortage of blue-collar workers in Canada. Your job is pretty secure if you go there. And kids that I've in I met at youth, they're choosing the work path, the trades, instead of going for higher education, they're actually do something really smart, right? And there is something to it where, if they have entrepreneurial aptitude they can start their own thing, and that just the potential for revenue in the future is even higher.
John Yoder: All right. Let's listen to part two of the interview, and this is about something amazing I've seen in Slavic churches where Russians, Ukrainians, and others are worshiping together with no problem at all.
My experience with Slavic peoples in a number of churches where I've worshiped is you can have people from anywhere in the Russian speaking world, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, you name it, and almost, it seems like seamlessly they worship together without arguing much about politics or even a war.
And I would just like to hear your perspective at Grace and in other situations, what is it like being a Ukrainian and worshiping together with Russians and others?
Oleg Siruk: It’s just like worshiping anywhere with other brothers and sisters. There was a lot of bad things that happened when the USSR was reigning, and during that time for a lot of Christians, I hear so many stories and I've listened to so many stories of my grandparents and my grand grandparents either being killed for their faith or being in hiding for their faith and whatnot.
But I guess the one sliver of positivity among a few others that came out of it was that I get to worship with people that are across different borders and we're able to communicate with each other and God blesses us in this way. We're not a tiny Ukrainian community trying to find each other, and trying to find community with other small batches of Ukrainians. We have this whole big network to plug into as of Slavic people, of Ukrainians and Russians and be Russians, and there's so many other people like we have Armenians that go to the church. We have a plethora of countries that are able to come together because of this Russian language.
Because of what happened in the USSR and the spread of the Slavic culture, the spread of the Slavic language, we're able to now come back and worship together, whereas we probably wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
And it's home for me. There's no, Oh, he's Ukrainian. Oh, they're Russian. I think, like we said kinda before, we're brothers and sisters first in Christ, and that comes before anything else.
John Yoder: Maria, tell us what's it like? What is it like in your church where you've got Russians, Ukrainians, and others coming together, and not arguing about what happened in the news last week, but just worshiping God and loving each other?
Maria Makhnach: It's freeing. It's a respect thing. Part of the respect is being able to put aside your political views, your cultural background. You just come and focus on one thing, which at the end of the day, like if you're coming to church and what are your priorities? Is your mindset set on worshiping God or is it trying to prove your opinion? If you're trying to prove your opinion, then you’re on the wrong platform.
I'm not saying that politics are not meant to be discussed, but what I am saying is when you're coming into a church, if your goal is to worship, then worship. If your goal is to have a debate about a differences, our differences in regards to politics, then that's a conversation we can take elsewhere.
John Yoder: Let's go on to the third part of their interview, and this is where Natalia shares with us what it's like to be one of the few Latinas in a very Slavic church.
Natalia Siruk: Honestly, I feel like at the beginning I had a little bit of hard time just because everybody knows each other forever. So for me it was a little bit tough trying to get into the culture, just because everybody knows each other.
But other than that, I love it. The people, it's so friendly, everybody, it's really nice. And finally I start feeling like I belong to the church, that part of that community, even though I'm not Slavic. But yes, it's been hard 'cause I'm not Slavic, but everybody speaks English. We go to the English service and everybody's so friendly. Everybody's so welcome. No, I love it.
Oleg Siruk: I think our culture, Slavic people, we find it very difficult to be very warm right up front. And it's something that we are actively trying to change as we live here. So you walk into an American church, it feels like everybody's there to hug you and say hello to you, and we're trying to do that. We have welcomers in our church, and it's a whole different environment than what I remember church being like growing up when we just came here.
In Slavic countries, in Russia and Ukraine, you don't walk around the street just smiling at people. So it's taking a little bit of time, and I think, but once we do warm up to each other, once we do get friendly, once we do learn more about each other, I think our culture is that type of culture that is, that will go far for you. That will, once you are in that group, once you are friends with someone, they will do anything for you
John Yoder: Maria, you wanna comment on that? Does it seem like Natalia is warmly welcomed at your church?
Maria Makhnach: I would say so, yeah. I think, like what Oleg said, it's not typical for us to be warm and friendly right off the bat. It's just which is opposite in the Hispanic culture, which is what I absolutely love and adore. Just how warmed and welcomed you are right away.
But I can see like what she means, that it was hard in the beginning to get find your way in a little bit. 'cause it's true like a lot of the times once you know somebody, like I have some friends who I've known them for 10 years. And obviously the closeness of your friendship varies, but you stay friends. Like the loyalty is one of the core values in the Slavic cultures.
Like once you’re friends, and then if you go from friends to what we call family. Then you forever stay family. It's like you are willing to do anything for that person. And for them it might not make sense, but that's just the way it is. So it's harder to find your way in, but once you're in for life.
A lot of the times I would say, key 1, practical tips if you're trying to find yourself. One is, like you said, learn a culture. Two, don't be so quick to jump to assumptions. Whatever you learn and whatever you meet, always believe that people have the best intentions at heart. Give them a benefit of the doubt. Just be open, be mindful, be nice, and the right crowd will find you.
Like you might not be friends with everybody. That’s culture. But when people see you're open, and you're trying to learn language, food, traditions, if people invite you, take the opportunity. If people are inviting you to a birthday party, go to the birthday party. If they're inviting you to come hang out, just go. Even if it feels uncomfortable and you don't know anybody, sooner or later you'll find yourself that people notice those things and then they'll open up slowly.
John Yoder: Let's listen to the last part of the interview here, and in this clip, Natalia shares with us something that's absolutely brilliant about putting Christ above culture.
Natalia Siruk: I think for us, something that we always talk when we were dating, even though we are from completely two other countries, we have a lot of similarities and culture and family oriented and beliefs. But I think our main thing that we always talk about, it's not about who was right, or which culture is the one that has to dominate. It's more about our culture, which is Christ.
So it's not about Ukrainian culture, it's not about Mexican culture, it's not about American culture, because we live in America. It's more about that our foundation, it's Christ. Okay. Of course, we're not perfect. We have a lot of things that we not agree, but I think just following that, and following what Christ want in our lives, and believing what Christ want us to do. I think it's been our lives. It's been easier than just saying, in my culture, this is what we do, or in my culture, this is what we do.
'Cause I feel like living in America especially, Ukrainian and then Mexican, and then coming to America, there's basically three different cultures in one household, and for us it's been just our foundation is Christ. Knowing that Christ is our foundation, I think life and marriage, it's been easier instead of putting culture, Mexican culture or Ukrainian culture, or American culture.
I think that's kinda our main foundation and that's something that we talk about it when we were dating and we were engaged, that it's not about what's right, or in my culture, it's more about knowing that we both have something in common and that's Christ.
John Yoder: Robin, what are your thoughts?
Robin Karkafi: If it stems out of a healthy relationship with Christ, if Christ is at the center of your relationship, I think things come easier. I'm always fascinated by the psychology of things, and I think the majority of issues stem from either feelings of rejection and feeling not good enough. And I think people from different backgrounds feel like they're not heard sometimes.
If you can't really feel rejected because you have a strong foundation in Christ, and your identity is in Christ, then you can more easily objectively talk about things that are bothering you, or that need to be adjusted in the way you do things. It's really cool that they're just focused on that, and they make it work.
Every time I meet a new person, it's all about putting myself in their shoes, and seeing how I could bless them, how could they leave the conversation feeling better. And that's because I've gone through hard times, and God's allowed things to happen in my life where it really makes me understand that, like how difficult life is for people. The angriest and saddest people are usually those who've gone through a lot and just aren't able. So really understanding that everybody needs Christ.
And Maria said, no matter what happens, you definitely need to need some grace and you need patience with people. But those are skills that you don't acquire unless you have experience, and sometimes you just need to live life. Stick to Christ and get hurt a couple of times before you start understanding other people and where they came from.
John, what are we hearing next?
John Yoder: Yeah, this time Oleg and Natalia told us about their cultural differences. Next time we're gonna talk about their personality differences, because they are polar opposites, and yet God has used that to turn that into a strength for them. So that's what we will be chatting about next week.
Maria Makhnach: Excited to hear it. See you guys next time.
