Sitting on the bed, Sergey watches the English lesson on his mobile phone. The huge window of the bedroom lets in the Odessa sun and illuminates the small notebook lying on the bedside table. It is open to the first page, written almost to the last line in the childlike handwriting of a 10-year-old. After countless weeks without classes due to a lack of electricity, Sergey will finally be able to fill all the pages in his notebook. In a safe place. Without the terrifying sound of guns.
Three weeks ago, the family fled Berislav, in the Kherson region, thanks to Plich-o-Plich (Side by Side, in English), a charity that rescues Ukrainians from the most dangerous zones of the conflict. In the hotel Odesskiy Dvorik, which has been hosting refugees since November, they do not have the space of the farm where they used to live, but they are at peace. Laughter and music echo in the room next to Sergey’s makeshift classroom, who jumps out of bed in a flash to join the large family. There are 11 in total, the parents and the 9 children, an authentic football team that keeps the house in a whirlwind all day long. “We feel good here. There is no shooting. We forget how the different guns fire,” says the mother, Olena. In Berislav, the family was forced to modify their two-story house to protect themselves from the Russians. “When they started bombing it was scary. At that point we didn’t know what to do”.
Until they find a house suitable for all of them, Olena and her husband Ivan will stay in Odesskiy Dvorik with their nine children. In addition to accommodation, the 58-room hotel offers meals, a children’s play area and organizes drinks, as happened at Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
At the head of the hotel where Volodymyr Zelensky, when the president of Ukraine was a comedian, was once regularly received, is Boiko Artem. He has worked every day without interruption since the beginning of the war. He lives with his family in the hotel and has hosted more than 520 refugees. The first arrived from Bakhmut on November 12. “Here they manage to live a comfortable life. Of course it’s not like being at home, but we try to give them everything to make them feel welcome. It’s like one big family.”
Russian refugee is a volunteer
Refugees arriving here are supposed to stay in the hotel for a few weeks before being resettled in Odessa or taken out of the country. Being Russian, Oleg is not so lucky. Since December, he has been sharing one of the rooms with his mother, Aleksandra, after they fled Kherson. She never let go of fear.
They left almost everything behind, but they still remember the exciting moments they lived in the city where they lived since 1996. “I will never forget the first few days, when the first explosions were heard. We woke up at dawn and saw the clouds of smoke rising. In early March, when the Russians arrived, the city practically died out”. Looking back on the past year, Oleg lowers his eyes. The words come out slowly. Remember the feeling after the Russian troops left the city. “There was no electricity, but when we left the house there was peace because we didn’t see them anymore. They had already left. Even the air itself was different. It was like it was easier to breathe.”
Due to the nationality stamped in his passport, the 27-year-old is struggling to move on with life. Want to get work. For the time being, he has become a volunteer at the foundation that took him in and helps other refugees to find peace. “The way some people look at me is different, I never know how they’re going to look at me. It’s quite difficult, but of course I understand why”.
Source: DN
