Anastasia

I want to share my story about how the war changed our lives.

 

My name is Anastasia, for 5 years I have been working and studying in Kyiv and on a winter day, 24 February, I woke up from hearing a strong explosion not far from my house. I sat up from my sleep, the explosion was strong, the windows were weak; I was at a loss, I could not believe that the war had begun.

 

In fear, I gathered my thoughts and began to gather clothes, from time to time the explosions continued, it was very scary. My friends suggested going to western Ukraine and then abroad.

 

We left on the same day in the afternoon, we drove for four days; although, in normal times we could have traveled in six hours. On the first days, in some areas the bridges had already been blown up by rockets and there was no road at all; we took a detour, then we decided to go to Poland.

 

Everyone was very hopeful that the war would be over within a week. We were at the border for two days waiting. There was no food anywhere, gas stations were empty. We were struck by the people walking along the road and gave food for free without even taking money for it. When we arrived in Warsaw, we settled in a hostel.

 

Now, I’ll tell you about my family. We ourselves come from the Sumy region, my parents and my sister were at home at that time and lived a normal life; just like me, without foreshadowing anything, my mother was going to work, and my sister was going to school. When the enemy attack was announced everyone stayed at home. In the first days of the war it was calm in our region, but after 3 days, enemy troops marched through our city and tanks drove to Kyiv, our town was surrounded. Initially, civilians were not touched, but after a while the Russians began to rob houses and apartments near our city in the villages. Our relative came under fire when he was going to deliver bread to people in the village and miraculously survived, everyone was shocked by what was happening.

When peaceful people were driving on the road, the Russians simply shot at the cars, people from our town were also killed. They began to actively launch rockets into our region. I was scared for my family, because sometimes communication with them was lost due to interruptions. For about a month, Russians traveled to our town. They went to the Kyiv region, to Bucha, Irpen, Borodyanka and so on. They killed, raped women, children, stole, fired houses. It is hard for our people to understand how these people can live after all this and how a normal person is capable of such a thing.

 

Rockets flew into our town and the siren was constantly howling. Friends of our family suggested we come to Montenegro for a month. I phoned my mother and decided to meet them in Europe. My mom and sister were driving a car, it was very scary, because it was dangerous to be caught by the invaders. In the end, everything was fine, they left and were safe. We met in Budapest and went to visit friends. Everyone felt lost and with little hope.

 

Through a friend, I met Kimberly. When you do not expect a miracle from life at all, but you believe, it comes. Our miracle was the Amity NGO in Prague. They helped us with housing, food and provided social outings; we were supported 24/7. We never expected to be openly welcomed and well taken care of by the Amity team.

 

We still cannot believe what is happening in Ukraine. We really want everything to end as soon as possible, but unfortunately the situation that has developed keeps us in suspense, as atrocities still continue in our country, rockets fly and civilians are killed. I really want everyone to believe in a miracle. Our family wants to thank Amity for the great work, for help and support; this will remain in our hearts forever. Thank you.