The First Days of the War – Memories with Tears
Yaroslav, Yaryna, Svitlana Selivanova
It is night, almost morning, and everyone is still asleep. Three explosions are heard, water and electricity are briefly cut off. What is this? Explosions across the country, it has begun – it’s all over the social media. I can’t believe it, I’m getting ready to go to work and tell my husband to stay with the kids. He says it’s the war. I don’t believe him. A plane flies overhead, the house shakes, I hope it will be another hour or two and then everything will be fine. Soon it will be three years, and the hopes are still the same – everything will be fine, we say it out loud.
My heart and body still tremble from the explosions. The first days were tense – how to feed the children, where to live, because the building on the 15th floor shakes a lot when a rocket or plane flies by, what’s next, how are friends and family, what about work and school? Our family was sheltered in a private house, there were 16 of us, huddled together, sleeping on the floor in the hallway at night because it was safer there. We wrote “CHILDREN” on the cars for those leaving the city. On the phone, I provided psychological support to those in need. Our oldest son was in another part of the city, in a basement – there were people and animals, everyone was there.
And then spring arrives, even though there is still snow and ice outside. We decide to take our children and friends out of the city. It is difficult, but necessary. I have only a few things with me, I even take a rifle because I don’t know what will happen. Along the way to the eastern region of the country, people feed others on the road, there are traffic jams, checkpoints, overnight stays in schools on the floor with strangers, but everywhere there is support and compassion. After a few days, we reach a safer region. We start volunteering here as well – weaving camouflage nets, helping others, collecting aid for the military and civilians in Kharkiv. There, my husband delivered aid on his bicycle to those in need.
Life goes on… Everything will be fine… We believe, we pray.
Supported by the Federal Foreign Office
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