Larisa (59)

Monday, March 14, 2022, Alzbetin Dvor. Day 18 of the war. 

Grandmother, her daughter and two boys, one of whom is only 1 year fled their homeland without any goal or plan. They were brought to my friend by German volunteers, who randomly picked up this family at our border with Ukraine and found accommodation for them. They stay with Adriana now. They had been at her place for almost two weeks at the time of our meeting. But what they have experienced and the concern about those closest to them still prevents them from functioning normally. The stress, worries, not knowing the country they found themselves in, nor understanding the language, but above all the fear of the future cause a block that will be difficult to overcome.

"We came here because the war started in Ukraine. We try to stay in touch with the family, but not with everyone, because it is impossible to reach them. We have decided to stay in Slovakia for now, we have nowhere to go."

"The people of Russia are not guilty, their commander is guilty. After all, there are also normal people in Russia. I don't wish them anything bad, but I do wish bad things to Putin." 

"We came here with my daughter and her two sons on March 6, the journey took us 16 hours before we reached the Slovak border and then another 8 hour journey to come here. We didn't even know where we were going, we don't know anyone here. My husband stayed at home, so did my brother and his family. My husband fights. He's in the village they (the Russians) are shelling. We are unable to contact them, we have not spoken to them since February 28. All we know is that there were Chechens in their village, that half of the village was burned down and that the  phones were taken from everyone. We don't know what happened to them."

"As we left, bombs were exploding all around us. Our soldiers were shooting down the Russian missiles. We hid in an anti-bomb shelter for 10 days. Only then did the volunteers managed to take us out and put us on the train and sent us here through Uzhhorod."

"People say that there are already too many refugees in Poland, that they no longer accept us there. That's why they sent us here, it's also closest to us. It's better for us because at least we didn't have to go far with a small child. They received us very well and helped us with the trip and accommodation. We had to leave, but now we are very worried about what is happening at home. We don't know what we're going to do yet, if I can find a job, I'll go to work, but my daughter has to stay with the kids. Her younger son is only one year old. I worked in a warehouse at home. We will have to find a longer-term accommodation first, one room will be enough for us, we don't need much."