June 17, 2022
News
Starting with Russia's occupation of Crimea in 2014, Ksenia and her husband's lives have changed fundamentally – since then they understood their future is in danger. All the while, Ksenia wanted to make a change of her fate, but at some point, she realised she could no longer see her future in Ukraine - "8 years I kept trying with my husband, to build our plans in a partially occupied country that was continuously threatened by a new invasion".
An unfortunate coincidence
One day, with deep regret in their hearts, Ksenia and her husband decided to leave for a new life, to go to another country - somewhere they could live without worrying about tomorrow. A country where they could give birth to a child without worrying about its safety. Somewhere where they could buy tickets for a holiday and not to flee armed conflicts or military operations.
By coincidence, on 24 February 2022, Ksenia and her husband were to fly one way. They had their bags packed, their tickets bought and their alarm clock set for 6 AM. They had just bid farewell to relatives, friends and colleagues. They had promised to return as soon as there were no more military threats from Russia. But their dreams were shattered - "...that morning our alarm clock didn't go off - we were woken by the sound of sirens". For the first few minutes of siren wails, they kept hoping it was just an air defence test, a false alarm, but soon nearby explosions confirmed the unease they had been experiencing since 2014 - war had begun.
The dream of the future began to crumble
The airport was no longer functioning. Planes could no longer take off. That day, only the dreams of Ksenia and thousands of other innocent people took flight. Ksenia and her husband packed their bags and rushed to the nearest cross border point, the one with the Republic of Moldova.
Odessa, in a matter of moments, was transformed from a holiday resort into a fortress ready for assault - permeated with filters imposed by armed soldiers at every turn, buildings ruined and set ablaze by explosions, people running everywhere. "I couldn't see or hear anything. I only came to my senses when I was crossing the border with Moldova and heard the border guard ask me if we were refugees. I automatically answered 'Yes'. That's when I realised that our life from now on would never be the same."
New dream: to become a painter of smiles
Arriving in Chisinau, Ksenia and her husband needed a few days to recover from their nightmare, to realise they had to start from scratch in a foreign country. As a painter specialising in art therapy, Ksenia started painting in Chisinau and posting her drawings on social media as she did in Ukraine.
In just a few days, Ksenia managed to get involved in a social project for refugee children, which included weekend meetings with children.
Ksenia started helping refugee children to draw, providing them with occupational therapy to stimulate self-expression in children under stress. Through drawing, the children forget the traumas they have had to go through and begin to smile again.
With the help of drawings made under Ksenia's guidance, children slowly forget that their country is at war and return to their childhoods. Thanks to Ksenia, such meetings have been held for three months now. On weekends, for a few hours, the centre turns into a real kindergarten where the children's joy make their parents forget, at least for a while, the screams of sirens and the bangs of bomb blasts.
Now Ksenia is waiting to receive the cash assistance support, grace to EU humanitarian funding : "I already know what I'm going to do with the cash support … I'm going to buy watercolours to continue painting smiles on the faces of children who have fled the ravages of war".
For more than three months, Caritas Czech Republic continues to covers the basic needs of refugees, provides them with access to medical services, including psychological care, and equip the country's placement centres with the necessary equipment to offer the refugees safe and dignified living conditions.
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
