Currents News Staff
Many Ukrainians are fleeing their country, leaving behind their entire lives and not knowing if they’ll ever return.
Little hands clutch bigger ones that would give anything just to keep them safe. Sleepy tiny cold faces rest in tired arms. The hum of voices you would expect from the number of people that are here – iit doesn’t exist. It’s as if the shock and disbelief has brought with it an odd silence.
It’s mostly women and children here. Men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave. The people here had to say goodbye to husbands, brothers, and fathers. Then there is the sheer hell of getting here. walking for hours waiting in some cases for days out in the bitter cold, hungry, thirsty.
Ajmal and his family fled Afghanistan last May, getting asylum in Ukraine. His seven-year-old daughter barely made it here.
“It’s very, very cold and my daughter come to shock,” Ajmal said. “We calling she not answer. Finally we try to contact ambulance. The ambulance comes and they checking and they gave us a chance to go there first.”
She clutches one of the donated stuffed animals, replacing a similar one she left behind. But who is going to give her the rest of her life back?
At least this time – unlike in years past – Europe is welcoming refugees. There is a massive, inhumane backlog on the Ukrainian side – but once they finally arrive in Poland, an army of volunteers.
At the train station, a seven-year-old hugs his mother, hiding his face. That’s because he’s not used to the crowds, it’s all scary and confusing.
They’ve been waiting two days here. Her mother is in Kyiv. It’s tearing her apart – but at least her husband – who is not Ukrainian, is out with her. For, how do you say goodbye to the love of your life? The father of your children?
One woman is not the only one in tears – others as well, understandably, not wanting to talk because, they say, it makes them cry too much.