Stories flowing with tears

Originally posted on Fundacja Otwarty Dialog by Łukasz Puławski on September 12, 2022 https://odfoundation.eu/a/444891,historie-lzami-plynace-opowiesci-naszych-podopiecznych-z-ukrainy/

Every day, volunteers and employees of the Open Dialog Foundation meet dozens of people escaping the hell of war and their stories. The war in Ukraine is still ongoing, and in search of shelter, safety and a chance to survive for themselves and their loved ones, our guests decide to go on a several-day, exhausting and dangerous journey under a hail of bullets, with numerous occupier checkpoints along the way, where any such situation could be tragic. in consequences. There are almost always tears at the end of this journey, and they come from various emotions.

Tears of joy

Ksenia, Maria, Maksym, Dmytro, Nadia – these are just some of the children who were born in Poland, while their mothers were under the foundation’s care. The tears of joy of proud parents are fully understandable – although often fathers could only see their children via smartphone. But this joy is shared by all the new aunts and uncles (volunteers) who are involved in preparing the layette, providing support during the hospital stay, and even rocking the baby to sleep. All “our” children grow up healthy, being the pride and hope of their parents.

Tears of hope

Valentyna and Lyudmyla, sisters from Severodonetsk, reached Poland safely thanks to cooperation with a volunteer from Ukraine, who told us their story and helped organize the trip to Warsaw. Mrs. Valentyna, escaping from the city’s shelling, fell and broke her leg. She then hid in a bunker for almost a month, having no access to medical help, losing faith that she would recover and fearing for her life.

They reached Poland only in what they were wearing.

Both ladies spent a month in an apartment provided by our Foundation. After hearing their story, we decided without hesitation to stock their fridge and pantry. Volunteer Ola bought them their first clothes and helped them collect more. After weeks of uncertainty about tomorrow, the sisters finally had a safe roof over their heads.

After numerous visits to the doctor, examinations, x-rays, treatment and two weeks of rehabilitation, Ms. Valentyna regained much of the mobility of her leg. There is still a lot of effort and commitment ahead of her to get back to full fitness. Hope turned into reality, and it is impossible not to notice that the main source of hope for Valentina was and is the great love and care of her sister Lyudmyla, who does not leave her side and makes sure that she does not lack anything.

Tears of fear

“Mommy, will they shoot at our house here too?” – asked 4-year-old Bogdanek, terrified of the new, unknown surroundings and clutching his parents’ hands just in front of a tent that is a reception point for refugees from Ukraine. When you hear such words from the mouth of a small, defenseless child, your heart breaks into pieces.

After several conversations with a psychologist, they found safe accommodation in an apartment provided by our Foundation, where the whole family quickly regained balance. Dad Maksym, with the support of a volunteer, quickly started working. Today, the family lives in a rented apartment, Bogdanek is no different in the kindergarten from other playful children and is bursting with energy appropriate to his age, and thanks to the fact that he has integrated well with other children and likes the kindergarten very much, his mother was also able to start working.

Tears of despair

There are also stories that make us realize in a brutal way that despite our best intentions, we cannot do everything. For a long time we supported Mrs. Zoia in her fight against cancer, who bravely endured the disease, the difficult treatment process and did not let us know that anything was wrong with her. Independent, independent, proud. A real classy woman.

During our last visit to the hospital on an August afternoon, we managed to organize a video conversation between Mrs. Zoja and her daughter, who was unable to visit her mother from abroad. Tears flowed from the eyes not only of the mother and daughter, but also of the volunteers who kept Zoia’s spirits up until the very end. Even though neither of them said it out loud, they all knew it was goodbye. Two days later, Zoia passed away.