Hanna Drahunova and her sister Olena Pavlenko have been living in Brabant for three days now. While their city of Kiev was bombed on day 7 of the war, the two sisters fled with their two sons. They have been housed in an old student room on the Edisonstraat in Eindhoven. “After living underground for seven days, this is a very nice place to be. These walls are beautiful,” says Hanna with tears in her eyes.
The two sisters show their room. They keep repeating how grateful they are and with how much love and warmth they were received in the Netherlands.
Their sons are eating Dutch soup with sandwiches and salami sausage. They try to introduce themselves in English. Meanwhile, Hanna apologizes in Ukrainian for the mess in their room.
In one day, volunteers and employees of the Trudo housing association made way for forty refugees. In Hanna and Olena’s room there are two beds, a cupboard, a table with four chairs and a refrigerator. They can pick out food, clothes and toys for free in the space below their apartment.
“We have been received very warmly here, it feels like we are with family,” says Hanna. “We got our own apartment here. We don’t have to ask for anything, everything is offered immediately and everyone wants to help us.” She clearly finds it very special how hospitable they have been received in Eindhoven.
Olena has a good day for the first time. The past few days have been very difficult for her. “We had to leave our men behind. We just wanted to save our children. We didn’t think about clothes or food when we tried to escape. We just wanted to get away.”
“We also had to leave our cat Sjoerka behind,” adds her sister. “But also our family and our friends. And don’t forget: we had to leave our city and our country behind. We miss them.”
The two women do not want to sit still in the Netherlands. “I had a good job in Ukraine,” says Olena. “Now I want to help here in the Netherlands. We don’t want to just sit here. We want to work, we want to learn the language and ensure that our children can go to school.”
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