Tetiana, doctor
In Ukraine, she worked as a paediatrician in a local hospital. Tetiana’s family managed to literally escape to safety, to Slovakia. After a difficult period, she enjoys completely ordinary activities such as cooking jam or working in the garden which make her happy.
Irina, teacher
The English and Bulgarian teacher’s home was Pavlohrad, i.e. the area between the Dnipro and Donetsk, and although she originally wanted to go to France, she stayed in Slovakia. Today, Irina Payuk helps in the charity support centre in Ružomberok and embroidered an unusual symbol for the soldiers.
Valentyna (71) and Mikola (72), retired
They were forced to spend several days sheltering in a school in Severodonetsk before they got to safety. As she goes on to say, after her daughter placed an ad in the newspaper and begged to grow a garden, a compatriot called her and told her that the charity also lends a helping hand to emigrants from Ukraine. Thanks to this, Valentina and Nikolaj also got to the facility in Medzev near Košice, which was provided to a charity by a steel giant in the east of Slovakia to help Ukrainian emigrants.
Inna
A small woman holding a five-year-old daughter in her arms also experienced difficult moments. She lives near Ružomberok, in Ivachnová, together with her sister, who also came with a minor child. Later, their mother also managed to leave Buča. The choice of place of escape was clear, the sister’s husband worked in Slovakia, therefore, according to her, they knew where they were going. But even life in Slovakia itself, although apparently peaceful for the tested Ukrainian, has its pros and cons. On the one hand, he devotes himself to his hobby, which is painting and running, but he also admits the language barrier.
Sergey
Until recently, the curator of the largest collection of cacti and succulents in Eastern Europe, a botanist and the head of the tropical and subtropical plant introduction section at Kyiv University. Today, he lives with his family in Slovakia and helps Ukrainians through the Slovak Catholic Charity. With three children, a wife and what they could fit in the car, they left their home as soon as the conflict broke out.
