The explosions were getting closer to her home every day, so Marina made the difficult decision to flee to save the lives of her children. She left the Ukraine to exchange it for the tranquility of Arucas.
In an instant, everything changed in the life of Marina and her two sons, Yaroslav and Yevsei. After two weeks of intense conflict around his city, Nikolayev (also known as Mykolaiv), in the south of Ukraine and very close to Crimea, an area self-annexed by Russia, felt explosions near her home that made this divorced mother take the essentials and flee her homelandas so many other people have been forced to do since the conflict broke out at the end of February. “I just wanted to save my children’s lives”, he assures. And because of that, undertook a 96-hour journey that has brought him to Los Altabacalesin Arucas, where his mother, Svetlana, and her husband, Edoardo, have lived for some time after having traveled part of his country in the midst of the conflict, Moldova, Romania and Hungary.
It was early March 9, the sun let a few glimpses through the clouds, and the cold was intense. In fact, the streets were snowed. Suddenly, a projectile fell a few meters from Marina’s house. Every day that passed, the explosions and the artillery were heard closer, so, at that precise moment, she decided to tell her children that they were leaving, to pack what they needed. They were only two small suitcases with warm clothes and the most urgent. However, the taxi that took them to the border with Moldova, the closest to their city, did not allow them to carry more than one of them, because it was full, so the other one stayed with her memories and her pets. “We didn’t want to run away, we wanted to stay because Ukraine is our country, our home, but every day that passed we were more scared,” says the woman, now in the tranquility and stillness of her mother’s house in the heights of Arucas.
Nikolaev was attacked early on, as it was close to military objectives coveted by the Russians as they tried to advance rapidly to take kyiv. A tremendously complicated situation, especially for the youngest of his children, just eight years old, and who has had to live a situation that no one at his age should experience. Upon reaching the Moldovan border together with several vehicles in a procession, since it was better to avoid mishaps or being robbed, they took a first train in which they traveled all night through the country to reach Romania.
There, another train was waiting for them to travel to Hungary for 24 hours. And already in Budapest, they tried to fly to Spain, where Svetlana and Edoardo were waiting for them, but finding a ticket was impossible for that same day, having to spend the night at the aerodrome itself to try his luck the next day. For a high price, they did buy the three seats for a flight to Madrid, for which their relatives helped them. Four days later, and almost at midnight, they landed in Gran Canaria, with great accumulated fatigue, fear still in their retinas, and the hope of being able to return home sooner rather than later.
On that path to tranquility, they met many volunteers who went out of their way to try to make things as easy as possible for them. On each train they traveled for free, thanks to the solidarity of the companies and the empathy with the situation they were going through. “People are very organized, it’s amazing how they try to help Ukrainian refugees in any way possible”Marina assures. Precisely, a group of young people accompanied them the night they spent at the Budapest airport so as not to leave them alone, and at dawn, they left for their classes at the University. A gesture that they remember with special affection. Also throughout the journey they saw many compatriots leaving the country, at every station, on every road and even at the Hungarian airport itself.
Now, thousands of kilometers from the conflict, they have found tranquility in Arucas, although they will still need “more time to be able to forget” all the barbarism they have left behind. Yaroslav and Yevsei gradually acclimatize to being in a house that is not theirs and living with their grandparents. None of the three had visited the Canary Islands beforeso everything is being a novelty for them that catches their attention, from the “completely different” landscapes to those they saw at home, to the mild temperatures of a more tropical environment.
scattered family
Asked if her plans are to stay in Gran Canaria for a while, Marina points out that what they most want is to be able to return to their land “as soon as possible”, provided that conditions improve. “Probably, we will wait to see how the situation continues, it is our house that we are talking about,” says the woman. However, everything seems to indicate that the Ukraine they would find could be very different from the one they left on March 9, and for this reason, they have already activated plan B. “If it gets longer, we will have to look for something, I will have to find a job,” adds this English teacher, who in Nikolaev gave online classes to her students. An online training that he hopes his children can continue from here, once they finish a kind of vacation that the educational centers began when the Russian invasion began. What’s more, ask for help to buy lighter clothes than the one they brought with them.
Svetlana, for her part, She is very worried because her children and grandchildren are scattered throughout Europe. And it is that, in addition to Marina, he has another daughter and a son who is fighting in Ukraine, being old enough for it. His unease shows in every pore of her skin, although at least she knows that all of her grandchildren are now safe, five in Poland and two under his own roof.
The daughter and her three children fled the country early, and have settled in Poland until it is safe for them to return. Her daughter-in-law and her other two grandchildren are also in the European country, in a house from which they will have to leave at the end of March, so they are already looking for another alternative in which to stay. But the situation is very complicated due to the large number of refugees who have arrived in the nation. since the conflict broke out at the end of February, which has made it practically impossible to find a flat.
In Arucas, for his part, Yevsei plays with Edoardo in the living room, while his brother stares into space. At first he was shy, but he ended up recounting how his experience had been through three countries until he reached Gran Canaria. He admits to being “a little bored” because he doesn’t have anyone to play with. But thousands of miles from war, both are safe.
