The support towards Ukrainians by the Don Bosco Youth Centre of Chişinău: interviews - part. 2

The effects of the Ukraine invasion on people have been, and still are, devastating/tough. According to UNHCR data, Europe counts 4,8 billions of refugees. Those States on the board with Ukraine set up some aid plans for families that flee from the war. This is the case of Salesians of the Don Bosco Youth Centre in Chişinău, the capital city of Moldova; they have been offering some sleeping accommodations to refugees since the outbreak of Russia-Ukraine conflict. From the 16th August until 26th I worked as a volunteer in Chişinău Youth Centre, where I had the great chance to interview Nadia, an Ukraine woman that, with her family, found an accommodation in the Chişinău Salesian House.

Nadia’s interview, an Ukrainian refugee

Please, present herself: 

I’m Nadia, a 72 year-old woman born in Kiev but raised in Vinnytsya, a city nearby Buh River in central Ukraine, a victim of the tough bombing by the Russian army, which took place in the mid of July by causing death to many civilians. The attack happened unexpectedly, news was spreading on the journals and the city centre has been strongly damaged. My studies first began in Vinntytsya, until I moved to Kiev once I was admitted to the Pedagogic Institute of Foreign Languages in Kiev. Now I live there with my husband and daughter, Rina. I worked as an interpreter, but I mainly taught English, and still am I, at the Polytechnic Institute in Kiev.

How did you perceive the outbreak of the war?

Everything happened unexpectedly. I had perceived that the situation was weak, as we were surrounded by news on Russian plans, but we couldn’t believe that our brothers and sisters were on the verge of starting a war against us. I was trying to escape from reality, I was living in my confort zone with my beloved ones and my job.

4. AM. My husband woke me up saying “Nadia, they are bombing Kiev”, he immediately called our daughter Risa to warn her to find a shelter at the underground stop, new our home. We picked up our personal documents, we got dressed and we found a shelter at the underground. After a few hours, bombings were said to be over, we got back to out flat to pick ip warm clothes and something to eat. The underground station was crowded, there was a lot of mess. We stayed there for about two weeks, from 24 February to 7 March if I am not mistaken. Initially, there was not even any food in the metro station, but within two days the volunteers brought us a lot of food. The first few days we suffered a lot from the cold, as we were lying on the metro platform. Later, the trains were blocked, there was even a train stopped on the tracks and we could use it to lie down and stay warm. The station was very busy, there were people arriving and people leaving Ukraine. We were being bombed every day, you could hear the sound of bombs from the subway platform.

I was very worried about my daughter and she told us she would never leave us. I asked my husband to call someone, to ask for help to leave Ukraine, it was my idea. Since my husband is Jewish, he called the synagogue in Kiev asking for help. The next day they called us and suggested we go to the synagogue where several buses were leaving to take Ukrainian people to different countries bordering Ukraine. They proposed we leave Ukraine in three hours to go to Poland but we weren't ready yet, we had to take all our documents and some clothes, so we didn't leave. The next day they called us and told us that the last bus was leaving from the Synagogue. We left Ukraine with only our documents. We did not know where the bus was taking us, we asked for information but there was no answer. On the way we realised that we were heading towards the south of Ukraine. We crossed the border into Moldova, at customs we had no problems, we simply showed our passports. The bus arrived at the synagogue in Chisinau, there were many people there. Rina found a hotel to stay in but they were very expensive, as the hotels were all full and they had not yet organised themselves for the wave of refugees. We were very tired and my daughter decided to pay for the hotel for one night. The next day, the hotel manager gave us the contact of a friend of his who works at the Don Bosco oratory that was hosting the refugees. We arrived at the Salesian house, there were many people there, especially many mothers with their children. They offered us a room and we told them that if they let us stay here we would be willing to pay anything, we could translate, teach, do anything they asked. In May, the Salesians organised a project for refugee children and we worked for four weeks as teachers. They offered us to teach the children, as they could not be in school. My daughter Rina taught computer science, I taught English and my husband maths.

How do you imagine Ukraine’s future?

I think we’ll survive to everything. I’m not a politician, but I think positively as it’s difficult to imagine that a State with such solid roots may disappear. Now, we are about to come back home as my daughter Rina moved to Germany owing to a 4-month scholarship, but she will have to return to Ukraine as she’s the director of the scientific centre in Kiev. In September she is going to come back to Kiev, and we’ll do the same as my husband go back to work. We can’t wait to come back home. Kiev has been the core of the civilization during the USRR regime, and it’s impossible to destroy such a great heart of a big nation. Despite Russia being our current enemy, we’re brothers and sisters, many Ukraine families are mixed, half Russian and half Ukraine.

Do you think that it’s a Russian or Putin’s war?

I think that there’s a group of rich people, upon us, who sets everything. Putin is the chief, but a lonely man doesn’t manage to start a war. I claim that the propaganda’s role is influencing the minds of the Russian population but, as already stated, the Russians and the Ukrainians are bound by a long tradition, made up of cultural ties and vicinity; our Russian relatives may not do us evil.

Have you got any relatives in Ukraine?

Yes, my husband has his first family in Ukraine. He has a 55 year-old daughter and a 32 year-old granddaughter, they both live in Kiev. We invited them here but they don't want to come, my husband's daughter is a pet doctor and has many animals at home that are difficult to get across the border. They are very scared, they were in an underground car park in Kiev for a long time but now they are at home. It seems to me that the people who stayed in Ukraine are getting used to the situation, it's incredible, they have learnt to live with the sirens and the climate of war.

Have you felt the support by the International Community?

I would have never imagined such a help, people are incredible. The Salesians make a lot of efforts, we’ve felt at home. In the refugees’ rooms we are the only family from Kiev, the others come from Mykolayiv, shelled in the summer, the entire city has been destroyed. Mykolayiv is situated in the south of Ukraine, a strategic aim for Putin, as it would give access to the Black Sea and to Crimea.

What do Ukrainians think of the conscription?

I think that they have to fight for their country, in compliance with the law, and every man should fight. It’s unfair that some people manages to escape or migrate to somewhere else.

Sources:

C. Dunmore, I. Odobescu, I rifugiati ucraini trovano una calorosa accoglienza in Moldavia, in UNHCR, 18 maggio 2022.

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