Finally they are here. After several weeks of suspense, Oksana Yarmus from Andijk was able to welcome four refugee family members today. The first traditional Dutch meal – fries and frikandellen – was immediately appreciated. “Everything was gone.”
She was still taken by surprise. The foursome – cousin Natasa, grandniece Ola, aunt Oksana and cousin Tanya – arrived in Andijk early on Friday morning. The bus from Oksana’s husband Adriaan’s work, which she had brought from Poland, stopped in front of her door at 8:00 am. “Whether the reunion was emotional? What do you think.”
Oksana came to the Netherlands in 2015 and works for an employment agency in Middenmeer. Already at the start of the war in Ukraine, she offered her family to come to Andijk, but during the trip, doubts set in. After staying in Poland for a week, they ended up in Andijk. Much to the relief of Oksana, who has a son of her own. “It was a bit of a puzzle, but it fits. No, no one has to sleep on the couch.”
The guests from the capital Kiev are tired, there is a lot of sadness and a lot is going on in their heads. Traumatized as they are from the events of the past few weeks. “First they have to relax for a while. They no longer have to be startled by every noise. They have been doing that since the bombing in Ukraine. And they also have to get used to the fact that they can drink water from a tap again. We will go first going back to normal things, going shopping later, for example.”
Homestay in Andijk
What’s next? “I understand that there is a host family in Andijk that would like to take in four people temporarily. That would be very nice. I’ll have a cup of coffee with those people first.”
The four family members who had fled were immediately treated to fries and frikandels on the first day in the Netherlands. “We always eat that on Friday,” Oksana says. “They liked it. Everything was gone. So we can eat that more often.”
Oksana’s cousin Natasa made a video about Kiev and their journey: