Polina, 11 years old

»When there was no electricity and no water in our house in Luhansk and ongoing shooting one year ago, my mother, my siblings and my uncle took me to Kyiv.
My father stayed in Luhansk. We talk each day on Skype and it is alright for him but I don't know what he's doing exactly hence it is hard to find work there.
We didn't drive directly from Luhansk to Kyiv but first to the Crimea. We went to the Crimea via Russia and our driver just didn't know how to get there. Then we asked at a checkpoint in Russia where is the road to the ferry to the Crimea. We arrived then on the Crimea and in the morning we went by bus to Kyiv.
It was not impossible to travel via Russia, one had only to show the customs documents - as before. I've been previously to Russia too, because my aunt lives there. Every year I went there to the sea and I also speak Russian with my aunt and she says that everything is fine for her.
I didn't directly notice much of the war because our residential area was relatively quiet. I only heard shots and once, when I was playing cards with a friend outside, there were bullet-holes near to us. Then we walked home quickly. Before we left Luhansk, several tanks without badges passed in front of our apartment.
Now I'm attending a school in Kyiv and learn a lot of things: lesson, lesson and once again lesson. We have Russian and Ukrainian and the change was not so difficult for me. I'm friends with my whole class but I don't tell my story and why I am here.
I would be happy about a cat or a dog. I used to have cat which died at the age of seven.
I am afraid of climbing plant in the sea because they are so uncomfortable. I especially miss my father and my old cat. I'm not sure if my father comes to us as he keeps an eye on all the apartments in Luhansk with all our stuff and our plant inside.
Sometimes I dream of something that really happens later. From Luhansk I took my clothes, toys and a little stuffed bunny that I got for my first birthday.
I would like to become a journalist, because one can learn many interesting things about other people.«

<<    >>