Es fällt mir schwer, darüber zu schreiben. Und hier ist eigentlich nicht das richtige Forum dafür. Dennoch heute ein paar Informationen. Im März 2022 brach der Krieg in der Ukraine aus. Putin meint irgendwie, dass er kurzerhand ein europäischen Land überrollen kann in ein paar Wochen. Natürlich sollen wir uns nicht in die inneren Dinge eines Landes einmischen. Aber die Ukrainer sind ein anderes Volk, sie sind wie du und ich. Es wurde nicht damit gerechnet, dass die fast ganze Welt hinter den Ukrainern stehen wird. Aber so ist es.
We had been the lucky ones and our kids has just left their parents house. So we took a 3-head family from the Ukraine with their small dog. It was difficult for dog or pet owners to find a place. In 2022 they nearly lived half a year in our house.
Consequently the war of the Ukraine arrived in our house. Daily calls back home to ensure everybody is still alive is still taking place. It was difficult for them to loose everything. Their jobs, their income, their home, their families. They come from Butscha, the place of the well-known atrocities, a suburb of Kiev, like Dransfeld is to Göttingen. A peaceful village with houses, trees, child laughter, pets, lanes, streets and gathering places. A first attempt to flee failed, the car was shot at, they fled in a forest. Long time later they dared to return. The second attempt to flee with the car from the lady, a gift just recently given to her from her father, succeed. The shot car did not drive any more. Shortly after their successful escape, another family with a baby and a small dog was killed by the Russians at the same place where they had to pass through a checkpoint.
On the internet there are many, innumerable people willing to support, privately organised, just to help the refugees, with any burocracy. A deep instinct inside us caused us to offer support. A huge wave of willingness to help, as well in Goettingen, through a private volunteer who has organised a ukrainian help group. So did we join this wave, first contacts were being made. One problem was a misunderstanding of the Ukranians for small villages. In the Ukraine there is a kind of “proper living” possibly only in the big cities. In the countryside, the villages, small towns are not so developed as in Germany. Therefore many people fleeing from the big cities of the Ukraine simply refuse to come to a small town. This felt bad to us and was a kind of setback. We were not enough, even for a refugee who has lost everything. A first family arriving in our house, immediately returned the following day. It was too calm here. The second family stayed.
Had many occasions to fill in countless forms – am now a kind of pro in filling in forms. Should add this feature to my CV. How it is, to take a traumatised family of a different people despite all our daily work and chores in our official jobs and our animal family and our garage? The power was there, the patience, literally living in the situation. I don’t regret a single day of it. They are wonderful people. As a hobby our lady from the Ukraine she can bake artful cakes – with which she can always get us. These are unbelievable creations. In the meantime we had been successful managing that they have their own flat in the next small town, their daughter has successfully finished her A-levels and an exam for university digitally online in Kiev. The Ukraine is further developed with the digital world. She is studying something with IT and engineering online in the Ukraine, their partner university is in Magdeburg. The girl speaks German quite well and with nearly no accent at all. She will move to Magdeburg to the winter semester and will commence her studies in German language. Surprisingly and unexpectedly her mum has been pregnant and now happily is having her second child, a baby boy. The baby boy is the tiny image of his dad. And dad is taking care of everything.
Still they are here for us. They arrived as stranges, and have left as family. And we are their German family now.
Still there is war in the Ukraine. I pray everyday for peace for the Ukraine.
