June 24, 2022
News
17 km from Chisinau, a modest little house became home for a family from Ukraine with 9 joyful children. Expelled by the war from their village, Mihailovs were delighted to find a roof over their heads in Moldova, especially as the family was waiting for the new member to be born soon.
Job position: Mother of 9 children
Aliona began her conversation and introduced herself as "a refugee from Ukraine and a professional mother...for 9 children". She continued: "We were trained to work and not depend on anyone. That's why at the beginning it was very hard - we didn't have our own money to buy anything and we lived only on donations. People asked us what they could help us with, but we were ashamed to tell them about our deprivation."
Aliona and Anatolii, married in 2009, were planning to move to a new house in the village of Iaski, on the banks of the Dniester River, Odessa region. It was a necessity - they already had eight children, and a ninth was soon to be born. The apiary her husband looked after provided them with a small but stable income, which allowed them to live a decent life so far - in addition to their daily expenses, in 13 years they managed to build a small house, which they were to move into in early March.
But on 24 February, the birdsong heralding the arrival of spring was interrupted by the whistle of bombs and the wail of sirens - war broke out. Russia invaded their country. They didn't want to believe their dreams had been shattered.
Mother's intuition never sleeps
At first, they didn't think of leaving because they had to move into their new house and in a few weeks, the new member of their family, "their 9th child for now", would be born.
But on 28 February, out of fear for the children's safety, they decided to leave: "My mother's intuition told me that little Anatolii would not be born in Ukraine. I left for Moldova with the feeling that only there would my children be safe."
Being in the maternity ward in Chisinau, Aliona learned that the Russian occupiers had bombed the maternity ward in Mariupol. Then she understood that she had made the right choice: "Fleeing to Moldova from the war was the wisest decision of my life."
Anatolii, a perfectly healthy baby boy, was born in Chisinau on 19 March. As soon as they came out of the maternity ward, the whole family moved temporarily to a house offered by the people of Sireți village, Strășeni district.
In the Mihailov's house it's like in a summer camp
In addition to the 9 children of the Mihailov family - Lia (11 years), Mark (10), Anastasia (9), Dmitrii (7), Simion (6), Galina (4), Ecaterina (3), Tatiana (2) and Anatol (3 months) - in Aliona's care there are 3 more children of her sister.
Everyone was busy - some were drawing, others were struggling to squeeze sounds out of an old piano to accompany a hoarse violin, and 2 little boys were busily working on a Lego: "This is the little house we'll be moving into soon. We're waiting for Dad to decide on the fence together. We've decided to make it taller so that the neighbours won't bother us in the future". When you hear words like that, you're speechless - the war has made its mark even on the children's games.
In May, the Mihailov family counts three-month of being refugees. In Ukrainian this month is called "травень", the meaning of which is perfectly described by the saying: "прийде май, за себе кожен дбай", which means that with the coming of May everyone has to take care of their future and start preparing for the next winter.
Mother's prayers were heard
The husband decided to return to Ukraine - he had to take care of the apiary - their only source of income. But the big help came from where they didn't expect: "When we were contacted by Caritas Czech operators, who told us that we could benefit from EU-funded cash assistance support worth 2,200 lei, I had the impression that my prayers had been heard."
They registered for cash assistance support and shortly afterwards received their money from the post office. This is a significant sum for them considering that every member of the family, regardless of age, benefits from this aid. The same day she bought the children the things they were missing. Now Aliona doesn't worry - "my MUM's salary (that's how she calls the financial help from Caritas Czechia) will allow me to give the children everything they need. Thank you, Caritas Czech Republic."
On the way to the Mihailov family, we decided to buy a cake for the children, but we quickly realized that a single cake would be not enough for the kindergarten from their little house in Sireti so we got two more.
We sang "Happy Birthday" to Simion, he was his birthday. We was happy to notice that children began to forget that they must fled the war. They are happy and live their childhood now in peace in Moldova.
The 20th of June marks World Refugee Day. The slogan for this year is "Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime." Caritas Czech Republic will continue to support everyone's right to seek a safe haven outside their home.
Interested in more stories like this? Read more:
- Ukrainian refugees sheltered in Moldova start enjoying life again
- Stories of refugees: The password "Newborn from Ukraine" ensured shelter for Alexandra's family
- Stories of refugees: Soldiers pointed a gun at us because of the Ukrainian anthem
