Who is popular today?

William Massias is today trying to get out of war-torn Ukraine with his wife and five children. But while their trek from Lviv to the border with Poland is about a two-hour drive, the Jamaican businessman estimates that they won't get to the crossing for another 48 hours."The biggest problem is the queue of people trying to get into Poland," Massias told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday in a phone interview."I think it might take us two days to reach the border because there are people lined up there already, and the question is how fast can they process these cars lined up," he explained.According to Massias, the taxi driver he had chartered on Thursday to take him and his family to the border had informed him that motor vehicles are not allowed through the crossing unless they are deemed "fit and proper". That means their insurance and registration must be up to date, and given that it is now winter the vehicles must be fitted with snow tyres."He didn't have snow tyres, so that's why we didn't leave today [Thursday] because I wanted to leave right now," Massias said, adding that the taxi driver told him that he would have the tyres fitted in order to pick them up at 10:00 am today for the journey."So it's not only the immigration process," added Massias, the CEO of online deal and discount provider Brawta Living, who has been living in Ukraine since January 2021 because his wife needed to deal with a health issue that was proving difficult to treat in Jamaica.On Thursday, Poland announced that it would open nine reception centres along its 535-kilometre (332-mile)-long border with Ukraine in anticipation of an influx of refugees after the Russian invasion Wednesday night."There will certainly be a wave of refugees arriving in our country," Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski told journalists Thursday, adding that his country would take in "as many as there will be at our borders".The centres offer arrival meals, medical care, and a place to rest and receive information.On Thursday, French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) reported the head of the Polish border guard Tomasz Praga as saying that there had been an "increase" in the number of people seeking to cross the Poland-Ukraine border in both directions, but added the situation was stable.According to the AFP report, approximately 29,000 people had crossed the border in both directions over the 24 hours since the invasion.Massias had told the Observer on Wednesday that his children's US passports had expired, therefore he had spoken to the US State Department, which told him that it could send him "a letter of travel" so the children wouldn't need to acquire new passports.On Thursday morning, he said he had spoken to the US embassy in Poland and "they gave us the entry point where we should meet them".Asked what he intended to do if he gets across the border, Massias said, "Remember, we're going through without proper documents, so once I get to the border and talk to the US embassy there I will see if they can grant us to get into Florida... I have family in Florida that we can stay with until things ease off."However, if they are not allowed to travel to the US, then he and his family will return to Jamaica.Massias, an Observer Business Leader nominee in 2005 when he was executive chairman of Capital Solutions, said he, his Ukranian wife Victoria, and their children - Alexia, 15; Leila, 11; Liam, 8; Maya, 6; and Timothy, 3 - had moved from their house in Dnipro about a week ago to Lviv in western Ukraine.The decision to relocate, he explained, was made out of a abundance of caution after Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed war ships to the Black Sea, south of Dnipro, as Moscow increased its sabre-rattling."Dnipro is between the warships and Kyiv [the Ukraine capital], so I said I don't want him firing any missiles over my head... so let me move," Massias had told the Observer.But the relocation was painful for the family as his wife's mother refused to travel with them."My wife has pretty much been sobbing all day because she doesn't want to leave her mom behind. We tried hard, we even bought train tickets to go back and see if we could get her mom to come with us, but now we can't," he said."She spoke to her mom and she's alright. She's heard the shelling in Dnipro, but she doesn't want to leave," Massias added.The children, he said, are okay. "They hear what's going on, but they don't really understand what war really means or the atrocities that come with it. This morning [Thursday] we all prayed together. Little Timothy prayed for Ukraine and for Brawta Living. He said, 'Dad, I want Brawta Living to keep going'. For three years old he's just amazing."Asked if he was still unafraid, as he had told the Observer on Wednesday, despite the fact that the tension has developed into war, Massias said, "I'm concerned, but I'm not scared."He said his life changed about 15 years ago when he became an orthodox Christian."My walk in the faith has been very deep, so I've really learnt over the last 15 years to put all my worries, my concerns out of me and give them to God, and I said, 'Lord, you are Lord for a reason and I'm just leaving it all in your hands. I know you love us and whatever is your will, let it be done,' " Massias shared."I still have no fear inside of me about all of this. I'm just very cautious for the children because I don't want to expose them to any kind of atrocities that could happen," he reiterated.He said after the war started Wednesday night he didn't get much sleep."We went to bed late, at about 2:30 am. I slept for about an hour and then my wife woke me up as sirens were blaring. Then her phone started to ring; it was her uncle calling to say that they started bombing."So from then it's been an adrenaline rush, just going and hoping that nothing comes close to us. I keep telling people that it's like a movie, it's not real," he said.He also revealed that he's been in touch with his staff in Jamaica and has been giving them updates.