Vita came to Moldova two weeks ago. Two weeks have passed since she last saw her home, her relatives, her husband. She talks to her husband online and these discussions give her a shred of hope that she and her children will soon return home to Odessa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to leave our country. We didn\u2019t want to leave even when they shelled our neighbourhood. But we couldn\u2019t stay there when the authorities warned us to take our children and leave because there were warnings of more powerful attacks by the Russians,\u201d tells Vita. Her children do their classes online, then they all go for walks. Vita admits that she feels lost and a little strange when she is surrounded by silence: \u201cMeanwhile, in my city for the past month, silence was replaced by the stringent sound of sirens warning us to go into hiding as quickly as possible.\u201d Help and humanity <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They left their home, taking only their documents, a blanket and a few clothes for the children. Their bags needed to be small and light, so as not to make the trip even more difficult. They left their beloved city, the places where they grew up and where they were happy. \u201cThey pay attention to our needs, and they take care of us and our children. This is extremely important to us,\u201d says Olga, who arrived from Odessa on 4 March. \u201cI took our papers; I took my child, and we went into the unknown. We left in a hurry. Leaving the sounds of the explosions as far behind as possible was the most important thing for us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can finally sleep\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Diana, a 20-year-old refugee from Odessa, walks down the hallway of the temporary refugee placement centre in Cahul after arriving in Moldova two days ago. Immediately, she decides to get involved in helping other refugees and helps the volunteers sort the donated clothes. \u201cEverything seemed so unreal. Then we heard it again and again,\u201d she recalls. Her family decided to move to a house in the suburbs for a few weeks, but the explosions could be heard even there. \u201cWe were all so stressed out for an entire month. It was extremely difficult,\u201d she remembers. The war woke them up on the morning of 24 February 2022, changing their lives forever. Some people were frightened, locked themselves in their apartments, while others gathered a few things and fled the shelling and sirens following the bombings. They ran towards nowhere \u2013 to some unknown place that seamed better than the terror […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":92093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-92111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":{"event_start_date":null,"event_end_date":null},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eu4moldova.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image086.png\")
She remembers how she dressed in warm clothes, as the frost was still biting; how she threw some documents in her bag and a few things for her children; and how they left for Moldova. At the border, she hugged her husband and tried not to think that this could be the last time she sees him.
\u201cWe walked for 5 kilometres. Then, together with the volunteers, we reached the Unit in Cahul,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eu4moldova.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image087.png\")
And although the volunteers and the organisations offer them everything they need, also entertaining her children in an effort to help them forget the nightmare going on in their city, she says: \u201cmy children still ask me when we will return home. I am following the bus schedule all the time, just waiting for my husband to tell me when things have calmed down. I want to go home, where I have my house, my family,\u201d Vita smiles with a little sparkle of hope in her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the EVA project, 200 refugee families have received personal hygiene items in placement centres in Cahul and Ungheni districts. Also, a safe and friendly space for children and youth named Ludoteca has recently been established to provide information and psychosocial support for women and children refugees from Ukraine in Cahul. \u201cWe understand them, and we offer our support to these women in this difficult situation,\u201d says Laura Grecu, EVA Project Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eu4moldova.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image088.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eu4moldova.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image089.png\")
\u201cThere were many bags full of clothes, and the two women sorting them couldn\u2019t do it on their own. I couldn\u2019t just stay aside,\u201d explains Diana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/eu4moldova.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/image090.jpg\")
They decided to leave Ukraine when three shells flew over their house with a whistling sound. They gathered a few things and hurried towards the border with Moldova, where volunteers met them and brought them to the placement centre.
\u201cIt is amazing how people opened their arms and helped us,\u201d says Diana, who admits that after a long time she can finally sleep in peace, not being woken by the sound of shelling destroying the country she loves so much, the country she did not want to leave. \u201cWe want to be closer to home and we hope that soon we will be able to go back,\u201d she says.
In Moldova, UN Women is working with partners to ensure that there is up-to-date data and analysis on the gender dynamics of the situation, including a gender assessment to capture the situation and needs of women refugees from Ukraine. UN Women is also supporting women\u2019s civil society organisations that provide essential services for refugee women and girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"