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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
With her son Mykola Raisa lived on the left bank of Kyiv and worked as a children's methodologist. On the 24th of February 2022, she was preparing to take a refresher course, but instead they woke up to the sounds of approaching war. At first, they hid in the basement, but very quickly Raisa realised that: "underground is no life and something has to be done". In early March, she packed her suitcases, and together with her son, at the second attempt, they arrived at the railway station in Kiev - from there the evacuation train took them to Kamenets-Podolsk, and further to the border of Moldova. "At the border we immediately felt that they were waiting for us here."
Arriving in Chisinau on the 6th of March, it was far from a smooth transition, but they were determined to move forward and things started to seem to work. Her son Kolya started school on the 11th of March, and a job in a kindergarten, in a Russian-speaking group, came along. In August 2022, Raisa secured a job at the Center for Youth Ecologists, where she mainly works with Ukrainian families, emphasizing the importance of preserving the Ukrainian language.
"At first life really was on pause, then it came to me that time goes on - life goes on and you can't sit around all the time waiting for things to change."
It is more challenging for Kolya in this respect - he is a teenager who still has friends back home in Ukraine. Getting used to a new school is not easy either. The situation is improved due to his involvement at the Safe Space, where Kolya is learning Romanian. This helps him feel more grounded.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
With her son Mykola Raisa lived on the left bank of Kyiv and worked as a children's methodologist. On the 24th of February 2022, she was preparing to take a refresher course, but instead they woke up to the sounds of approaching war. At first, they hid in the basement, but very quickly Raisa realised that: "underground is no life and something has to be done". In early March, she packed her suitcases, and together with her son, at the second attempt, they arrived at the railway station in Kiev - from there the evacuation train took them to Kamenets-Podolsk, and further to the border of Moldova. "At the border we immediately felt that they were waiting for us here."
Arriving in Chisinau on the 6th of March, it was far from a smooth transition, but they were determined to move forward and things started to seem to work. Her son Kolya started school on the 11th of March, and a job in a kindergarten, in a Russian-speaking group, came along. In August 2022, Raisa secured a job at the Center for Youth Ecologists, where she mainly works with Ukrainian families, emphasizing the importance of preserving the Ukrainian language.
"At first life really was on pause, then it came to me that time goes on - life goes on and you can't sit around all the time waiting for things to change."
It is more challenging for Kolya in this respect - he is a teenager who still has friends back home in Ukraine. Getting used to a new school is not easy either. The situation is improved due to his involvement at the Safe Space, where Kolya is learning Romanian. This helps him feel more grounded.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
With her son Mykola Raisa lived on the left bank of Kyiv and worked as a children's methodologist. On the 24th of February 2022, she was preparing to take a refresher course, but instead they woke up to the sounds of approaching war. At first, they hid in the basement, but very quickly Raisa realised that: "underground is no life and something has to be done". In early March, she packed her suitcases, and together with her son, at the second attempt, they arrived at the railway station in Kiev - from there the evacuation train took them to Kamenets-Podolsk, and further to the border of Moldova. "At the border we immediately felt that they were waiting for us here."
Arriving in Chisinau on the 6th of March, it was far from a smooth transition, but they were determined to move forward and things started to seem to work. Her son Kolya started school on the 11th of March, and a job in a kindergarten, in a Russian-speaking group, came along. In August 2022, Raisa secured a job at the Center for Youth Ecologists, where she mainly works with Ukrainian families, emphasizing the importance of preserving the Ukrainian language.
"At first life really was on pause, then it came to me that time goes on - life goes on and you can't sit around all the time waiting for things to change."
It is more challenging for Kolya in this respect - he is a teenager who still has friends back home in Ukraine. Getting used to a new school is not easy either. The situation is improved due to his involvement at the Safe Space, where Kolya is learning Romanian. This helps him feel more grounded.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
With her son Mykola Raisa lived on the left bank of Kyiv and worked as a children's methodologist. On the 24th of February 2022, she was preparing to take a refresher course, but instead they woke up to the sounds of approaching war. At first, they hid in the basement, but very quickly Raisa realised that: "underground is no life and something has to be done". In early March, she packed her suitcases, and together with her son, at the second attempt, they arrived at the railway station in Kiev - from there the evacuation train took them to Kamenets-Podolsk, and further to the border of Moldova. "At the border we immediately felt that they were waiting for us here."
Arriving in Chisinau on the 6th of March, it was far from a smooth transition, but they were determined to move forward and things started to seem to work. Her son Kolya started school on the 11th of March, and a job in a kindergarten, in a Russian-speaking group, came along. In August 2022, Raisa secured a job at the Center for Youth Ecologists, where she mainly works with Ukrainian families, emphasizing the importance of preserving the Ukrainian language.
"At first life really was on pause, then it came to me that time goes on - life goes on and you can't sit around all the time waiting for things to change."
It is more challenging for Kolya in this respect - he is a teenager who still has friends back home in Ukraine. Getting used to a new school is not easy either. The situation is improved due to his involvement at the Safe Space, where Kolya is learning Romanian. This helps him feel more grounded.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
With her son Mykola Raisa lived on the left bank of Kyiv and worked as a children's methodologist. On the 24th of February 2022, she was preparing to take a refresher course, but instead they woke up to the sounds of approaching war. At first, they hid in the basement, but very quickly Raisa realised that: "underground is no life and something has to be done". In early March, she packed her suitcases, and together with her son, at the second attempt, they arrived at the railway station in Kiev - from there the evacuation train took them to Kamenets-Podolsk, and further to the border of Moldova. "At the border we immediately felt that they were waiting for us here."
Arriving in Chisinau on the 6th of March, it was far from a smooth transition, but they were determined to move forward and things started to seem to work. Her son Kolya started school on the 11th of March, and a job in a kindergarten, in a Russian-speaking group, came along. In August 2022, Raisa secured a job at the Center for Youth Ecologists, where she mainly works with Ukrainian families, emphasizing the importance of preserving the Ukrainian language.
"At first life really was on pause, then it came to me that time goes on - life goes on and you can't sit around all the time waiting for things to change."
It is more challenging for Kolya in this respect - he is a teenager who still has friends back home in Ukraine. Getting used to a new school is not easy either. The situation is improved due to his involvement at the Safe Space, where Kolya is learning Romanian. This helps him feel more grounded.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
With her son Mykola Raisa lived on the left bank of Kyiv and worked as a children's methodologist. On the 24th of February 2022, she was preparing to take a refresher course, but instead they woke up to the sounds of approaching war. At first, they hid in the basement, but very quickly Raisa realised that: "underground is no life and something has to be done". In early March, she packed her suitcases, and together with her son, at the second attempt, they arrived at the railway station in Kiev - from there the evacuation train took them to Kamenets-Podolsk, and further to the border of Moldova. "At the border we immediately felt that they were waiting for us here."
Arriving in Chisinau on the 6th of March, it was far from a smooth transition, but they were determined to move forward and things started to seem to work. Her son Kolya started school on the 11th of March, and a job in a kindergarten, in a Russian-speaking group, came along. In August 2022, Raisa secured a job at the Center for Youth Ecologists, where she mainly works with Ukrainian families, emphasizing the importance of preserving the Ukrainian language.
"At first life really was on pause, then it came to me that time goes on - life goes on and you can't sit around all the time waiting for things to change."
It is more challenging for Kolya in this respect - he is a teenager who still has friends back home in Ukraine. Getting used to a new school is not easy either. The situation is improved due to his involvement at the Safe Space, where Kolya is learning Romanian. This helps him feel more grounded.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
With her son Mykola Raisa lived on the left bank of Kyiv and worked as a children's methodologist. On the 24th of February 2022, she was preparing to take a refresher course, but instead they woke up to the sounds of approaching war. At first, they hid in the basement, but very quickly Raisa realised that: "underground is no life and something has to be done". In early March, she packed her suitcases, and together with her son, at the second attempt, they arrived at the railway station in Kiev - from there the evacuation train took them to Kamenets-Podolsk, and further to the border of Moldova. "At the border we immediately felt that they were waiting for us here."
Arriving in Chisinau on the 6th of March, it was far from a smooth transition, but they were determined to move forward and things started to seem to work. Her son Kolya started school on the 11th of March, and a job in a kindergarten, in a Russian-speaking group, came along. In August 2022, Raisa secured a job at the Center for Youth Ecologists, where she mainly works with Ukrainian families, emphasizing the importance of preserving the Ukrainian language.
"At first life really was on pause, then it came to me that time goes on - life goes on and you can't sit around all the time waiting for things to change."
It is more challenging for Kolya in this respect - he is a teenager who still has friends back home in Ukraine. Getting used to a new school is not easy either. The situation is improved due to his involvement at the Safe Space, where Kolya is learning Romanian. This helps him feel more grounded.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
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For many Ukrainian refugees, the decision to leave their homeland was not a choice, but a necessity. Fleeing from the horrors of war, their lives were suddenly upended, and they found themselves in a foreign land with uncertain futures. This transition to a life in exile created an emotional vacuum that many describe as feeling like life is on hold.
Read more stories within "Life on Pause" series: https://moldova.unfpa.org/en/life-pause-story-human-resilience-and-adapt...
Related Slideshows
Like many teenagers, the war separated Oleg from his father. Partly because of this, he has had to grow up very quickly: "In this year and a half, I have matured a lot. Before the war, I felt like a child-child, but when the war started, we moved here, and I somehow grew up too fast."
"Life on pause is like that because I don't have my home here. I'm trying to support my family, but I don't know what I'm going to do next. How I'm going to live next - this pause is constant, and I think about it all the time. I want my own house, to have my whole family together, to have them all around me.
Ekaterina runs a channel on the YouTube platform - it's a visual diary of her granddaughter Eva. She is 66 years old. Ekaterina has lived most of her life in Kharkov and when war broke out, she had to leave her beloved hometown with her daughter and granddaughter.