⭐️Some things in life cannot be changed… They can only be overcome.
💬”In the three years of our mobile team’s activity🚍, we have met thousands of people who were forced to leave Ukraine🇺🇦 because of the war and we have heard hundreds of heartbreaking stories about the destinies of families who lived a quiet and peaceful life, collapsed in a few minutes”, tells us Liliana, a psychologist of the Mobile Team.
The stories of Ukrainian refugees are imbued with pain and bitterness, with tears and suffering for home, for loved ones left in Ukraine, for those who can no longer return, who died – some on the battlefield, others under bombardment.
💬”At first, our beneficiaries were preoccupied with everyday problems, trying to integrate into the new society, and the language barrier was a difficulty for both adults and children. Fear of the future overwhelmed everyone, many did not understand what was happening and how long it would last. Some began to suffer from “survivor’s guilt”, feeling ashamed because they were safe,” reports Olga, a social worker of the Mobile Team.
💭”At our meetings, we helped women combat anxiety, taught them self-regulation mechanisms and informed them about forms of gender-based violence and about support services for victims of gender-based and domestic violence. Beneficiaries received information about the importance of maintaining reproductive health🚻 and about services that can help them obtain medical care🩺
Over time, beneficiaries began to trust us, sharing with us their personal and most intimate stories, which they were silent about at the beginning of our acquaintance.
🗯I would like to share with you the story of Victoria👩🦰, who arrived in Moldova a few weeks after the start of the war. It was a very difficult move for her, she traveled with two children👩👧👦, one of whom has been disabled since childhood. A few years before the war, Victoria buried her loved ones – her mother and husband. In Ukraine, she currently does not have a home – it was destroyed by bombing. After arriving in Moldova🇲🇩, the woman rented an apartment and began to get used to a new world for her and try to survive in the new living conditions. There was no occasion when Victoria missed our meetings, an always benevolent and energetic woman, who was happy to help her fellow citizens with advice and kind words, always smiling and receptive. And only during individual consultations did we see a tired, scared and confused woman, who really needed our support and help, for whom it was very important to be listened to without judgments and prejudices.
Throughout these years, Victoria successfully attended Romanian language courses and became a beneficiary of the Case Management (Cash) program, which was very important for her and her family. Victoria is a master of sports in athletics🥇, she practiced yoga at a professional level, and now, a few hours a week, she teaches yoga 🧘♀️for women in a small sports club.” says Liliana.
In one of our conversations, Victoria told me:
👩🦰”I try to be strong, I have to be like that. But the scariest thing is that I don’t know what to expect, what tomorrow, next week or next month will bring us. I can’t make any plans for the future, and this is a heavy burden for all refugees. We are sincerely grateful to your mobile team Safe Space, UNFPA Moldova and A.O. ARTEMIDA for existing, for being close, for not abandoning us in difficult moments. Thank you for your sincerity, for your availability, for the ability to listen, for useful information, for the individual approach to each of us and for the interesting discussions, during which we feel like people, important people, not just refugees.”
🗣Meeting with women who are left alone with their children in a foreign country, who are faced with misunderstandings, prejudices and accusations from loved ones and friends left in Ukraine, and seeing how these women courageously go through life’s hardships without losing their dignity, you understand how important it is to be with them, to support them, to guide them and to help them regain their confidence in themselves, in people and in the fact that, together with Safe Space, they can feel safe.
🟠We, the members of the Safe Space mobile team🚍, would like to express our gratitude to the leadership of UNFPA and the administration of A.O. ARTEMIDA. Your faith in our team and in what we do gives us strength and confidence, the attention paid to each employee, the support and help provided by you make our work more productive, fruitful and efficient.
