Homeland

February 24, 2022, changed my life completely and turned it upside down. I will never forget how I woke up from the explosions somewhere not so far away from my home. And then, the terrible sound of air sirens, caused blood to freeze in my veins. On this day, the war in Ukraine started. With my toddler son, we left our home, our life all packed in one backpack for the two of us. It was the last time I saw my husband. And our journey as emigrants had started.

Firstly, we left Kyiv and came to Poland. Polish people were so supportive and welcoming to us. I was amazed at how absolute strangers helped us to find a place to stay, food, prepare documents and buy airplane tickets. I will never forget this time and feeling. Then we came to Canada. Why Canada? Just because it is far away from Russia and from the nuclear power stations that were occupied by Russians at that time, explosions were very likely to occur. I was 32 weeks pregnant and very scared. Canada is wonderful, people are so supportive and nice. We were able to start our life here one more time, but my heart is broken and in constant pain for my family, my people, and my homeland.

It is interesting how life can change in one day. We never planned or wanted to emigrate from our beloved Ukraine. We had a decent life, and jobs, and were expecting one more baby to come. We had a lot of plans and dreams that were ruined just because somebody decided that he had the right to kill innocent people and destroy our country.

The situation in Ukraine is very bad. We are losing this war. Too many people have died, and too many lives have been destroyed. But I want to believe that the world will not stop supporting Ukraine and will never forget who started this. The world should not allow somebody to intervene in other countries without punishment.