Sofia, 12 years old

»I have two sisters, one of them lives in Germany and the other in the US. Early in May 2014, my parents, my grandmother, my brother and I went from Luhansk to Kyiv, where I go to school.
At night there was an air raid in Luhansk, we woke up and packed our things. My father and I drove by car and my brother and my mother took the train, because there was no more room in the car - we took so many things.
We thought first that the relocation would only be for a short time period, but then it became longer and longer. In the beginning our grandmother posted us some stuff and some days later she followed too.
I noticed demonstrations before the war. At the end of April last year, we were sitting in a restaurant and saw a crowd who shouted something, but I can not remember what they shouted exactly.
Then warplanes came at night and at school we were told that we should stay at home because it was too dangerous to go to school.
I have the same subjects in my school in Kyiv as before, except Russian literature and choreography. My favorite subjects are geography and math. I can speak only with girls about my old life in Luhansk but not with boys.
I would be very happy if our old house in Luhansk could be transported to Kyiv and our dog, which lives by our neighbours now. Probably we will only go back if everything has stopped there with the war.
I'm scared only at night, when one can not see anything.
I often think of Luhansk and my old friends, who tell me that with them everything is okay. My old friends from Luhansk have adjusted to the bombs, for them it's normal now.
I'm dreaming differently, strange things and sometimes I dream of Luhansk and have nightmares and I don't know from where those dreams come. I don't know what I wish, perhaps only animals and my old dog.
I always wanted to be a vet and do something with agriculture in the past, but now I'm more interested in computer games, photography and programming.«

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