“I am from the village of Novoyakovlivka, Zaporizhzhia region. Since the beginning of the war, this village has been regularly shelled. On March 17, 2022, my family and I left by evacuation train for Poland. The Głogów community provided us with housing in a social building, and my daughter gave birth to a child there. But living there was not easy: the neighbors did not sympathize with us because of the war, and they also cthreatened us. Social workers and the police came, but they could do nothing.
We thought that after 1.5 years in Poland we would no longer be able to stay there legally, so we returned to Ukraine, to our village. But we quickly realized that it was not safe there. The evacuation service took us to a house in the village of Orlіvshchyna, Dnipro region, where we could stay for only two months. Then we went to Dnipro, where we were given a room without renovation and heating, with mice. It was impossible to live there, so we moved to a collective center.
Here we are struggling with legal issues because we need to get documents for a child born in Poland. The collective center itself is better, but it is difficult to pay for utilities. The money we receive as internally displaced persons is not enough, so we are looking for a cheaper apartment. It is good that we have help here, Triangle Génération Humanitaire has provided us with towels, detergent, washcloths, and toothpastes. Psychologists work with children.
It is a concern that the collective center does not have its own shelter. The neighboring shelter is a school, and you cannot run there quickly. We go down to the first floor when rockets are flying, because there is nowhere else to hide. It is very loud when they shoot nearby. I do not feel safe here”.
