“We were not hoping to get help: we planned to travel to Belarus for a short time”
A family from Ukraine talk about their six month stay away from home
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Katya is six, and she doesn't like New Year celebrations. She doesn’t like celebrations this year. New year fireworks and exploding firecrackers frightened Katya and made her shudder and cry. She heard similar sounds in her native Ukrainian village of Blagodatnoe when she lived in a bomb shelter under a two-story building for three weeks. Then Katya heard these sounds in Donetsk, when she visited her aunt. Katya spent her last New Year in Brest, Belarus and the festive noise reminded her of a terrifying experience back home. Apart from this experience, Katya plays peacefully with her friends on the playground, ice-skates, laughs and sleeps better at night. Her only wish for the new year is to return back home when it gets peaceful again.
“In August, we decided to go to Belarus temporarily to visit our relatives for two or three weeks. We didn’t plan to go there for a long time. We thought we would stay for a while until the situation improves,” says Natalia, Katya’s mother. “Our children started recovering here away from all the explosions and noises. By September, we realized that the situation in Ukraine was not going to change and decided to stay and enroll our children in school,” said Natalya.
“We did not dare to go anywhere else: we decided to visit our relatives in Belarus,” adds Katya's grandmother. “We have no relatives anywhere else. My husband is sick, and we have small children. It was scary to go anywhere else.”
This family of seven lives in a small apartment in Brest city - Natalia and her children Katya and Maxim; Natalia's sister Nastya and her daughter Lena, as well as their elderly parents. We got to see a large carton box in the apartment kitchen; it contained children's treasures - playdough figures. Girls like playdough and drawing, it’s how they spend spare time. Almost all of their toys were left behind in Ukraine.
“While hostilities continued, our children refused to enter home; they were too scared. We realized if we returned there, we would endanger children’s and own lives. Had we stayed back in Ukraine, we would have had to exit the house every time there was a danger,” shares Natalya.
"I AM FRIENDS WITH ALL OF MY CLASSMATES"
Once settled in Brest, Lena went to the 1st grade, and Misha to the 8th grade. Katya did not attend the kindergarten as she would get sick quite often. They were most worried about Misha: whether his peers in the new school would accept him.
Misha is 14 years old. He wouldn’t chat with us, like Lena and Katya, who sweetly tell us their “secrets”. The “secrets” are about how Lena is friends with Artem, Yegor and Vitya; how she goes to school with Anya, but she shares her desk with Zhenya; how Katya loves to ride on the swings in the playground nearby; how she likes to draw and how she made friends with the girl next door. “I constantly forget her name: it’s complicated,” Katya feels embarrassed and laughs.
Misha is a serious young man. The only men in the family are the grandfather and him. Misha misses his friends in Ukraine, but he doesn’t want to admit this directly. “All is well” is his answer to almost any question. Misha loves football and computer games, going for walks and watching movies in the cinema.
Misha continues his online studies in Ukrainian doing it concurrently with his schooling in a Belarusian school.
“We were worried how children would accept Misha in school. This is such a difficult age,” says the grandmother. “But, touch wood, there is no problem. He communicates with his classmates: they went to the cinema, he went to the gym with the boys,” adds Misha’s grandma.
Natalia picks up the conversation. “Our children have adapted well. The school is good, and they have been well received. There are girls with whom Lena communicates. Yesterday she said: “I am friends with all of my classmates.” Katya and Lena play with many kids in the yard. They draw and jump over the rope. I remember they once collected some bouquets of leaves all together and sold them to strangers for a little fee,” Natalia laughs.
Girls draw and talk about themselves: about their favorite school subject and hobbies.
“I was the first who exclaimed the word “Няделя!” (Sunday) in the Belarusian language in school. It sounds almost like “Неділя” in Ukrainian,” Lena says proudly.
The drawings are stored with the same care as the playdough crafts. Children's “archive” — drawings, bracelets, new photos — is collected from scratch. Most of the things, including printed photos, were left at home and most likely were burned down.
“The house where we used to live stands without windows and doors now. There are only walls. The garage was burned down. This is what was in August; we do not know what is there now. We cannot contact our neighbors any more. And there are almost no people there,” says Natalia.
The animals who were loved by the whole family stayed home.
“We had a piece of land there. Our animals stayed there: our cats, our dog Tobyk, and our chickens. At first, our neighbors fed them; then it was getting more and more dangerous; some of the neighbors left. They released all the animals and we don't know what happened to them. Children ask about them and look at animals on mobile images.”
The family applied for temporary protection status in Belarus. After being granted refugee or temporary protection status, foreigners enjoy the most important socio-economic rights on an equal footing with citizens of Belarus.
“WE DID NOT THINK WE NEEDED HELP”
The volunteers at the information points of UNICEF Belarus and the Belarusian Red Cross explain how to apply for refugee status or temporary protection, where to apply for medical assistance, psychological assistance and other vital services.
Natalia and Nastya met volunteers at the state border crossing in the city of Brest at the RAZAM information point. The information point supports refugee families with children from near and far abroad who need support in Belarus. In addition to being a place to share important information, the point also serves as a safe space for children to warm up, relax, play and just be kids at a time when everything is changing rapidly.
The point was created by the Belarusian Red Cross, UNICEF, UNHCR with the support of the Brest city administration.
“When we were going to Belarus, we did not hope to get any help: we planned a short trip. We were not even thinking that we needed help,” says Natalia. “Life forced us to stay and accept help. We found out at the information point where to apply for employment. We’ve got contact numbers for health services. Lots of useful information. We learned about the work of UNICEF in Belarus and the Red Cross, and what kind of assistance we could get from them,” said Natalia.
UNICEF provides families with children from Ukraine with humanitarian assistance, such as hygiene kits, targeted financial assistance (certificates to buy supplies for children). Together with partners, UNICEF also provides psychosocial support, facilitates access to education, and informs about available services.
“I knew that UNICEF was active in Ukraine, but I did not know about Belarus,” Natalia continues. “I remember about landmine safety training for children. I’ve heard about financial assistance provided to displaced persons and additionally to children with disabilities. Mothers of many children received humanitarian kits. There was a lot of work. When I was pregnant with Katya in 2016, I was also given humanitarian aid.”
“UNICEF’s assistance in both Ukraine and Belarus is very important,” says Nastya. “That's a lot of support. After all, there are different people. There are many of us; we are together; we came to visit relatives; they supported us very much. And even having such family support, cash certificates and other humanitarian support is a big additional help for us. There are also people who have no family to support them.”
“The cash certificate helped the family to buy children's clothes, tableware and other necessary things for starting life from scratch. I left some cash for the spring so that we can buy dresses for girls and summer clothes for Misha.”
“Now we are thinking of free psychological counseling for Katya, which the volunteers talked about. Although our children feel much better, they are still under stress: they were pulled out of their familiar environment. We feel a little better mentally. The only thing is that we often dream about our house and feel uncertain about our future. We don’t make any plans at all right now: we live in the moment.”
When we were saying goodbye, Katya handed out a bracelet as a gift, and Lena presented us a butterfly. The girls made the crafts themselves. The best gift is to see children smile, talk about new friends, share their time and attention so sincerely.
