• The GSCF allowed two Ukrainian teenagers aged 11 and 15 to reunite with their mother, whom they had not seen since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

  • Brought by their father to a refugee camp on the Polish border, the two boys came across the northern NGO which was passing through there before returning to France.

  • The six rescuers therefore transported the children to Belgium where they were finally able to hug their mother.

As terrible as it is, a war sometimes generates its share of great stories.

This is what happened this Friday in the Belgian Ardennes where a Ukrainian mother and her two boys, aged 11 and 15, found themselves after being separated since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24.

To arrive at this reunion, it took a little luck and above all a big helping hand from the GSCF, a northern NGO who left this week for a third humanitarian mission in Ukraine.

“Thursday morning, our team of six rescuers, who had just gone to drop off equipment in Ukraine to firefighters, stopped in a refugee camp located on the Polish border, Thierry Velu, president of the French Disaster Relief Group, tells.. There, they ask if there are specific needs for the next humanitarian mission planned in two weeks.

That's when someone calls out to them and asks them when their return to France is planned and if they have planned to go through Belgium”.

Chance has just done its work.

Based in the North, the NGO has planned to go back through Belgium to return to France.

And that's good because Sascha and Dedion, two teenagers aged 11 and 15, who had just been dropped off at the border by their father forced to stay in Ukraine to fight, were trying to join their mother in the Belgian Ardennes.

"It's a magical moment that doesn't happen often"

“The couple, who lived in kyiv, have been separated for several years.

When the conflict broke out, it was the father who had the children but he did not manage to join his ex-wife who left in a hurry with his little girl, from another union, to join friends in Belgium. .

Since then, she did everything to get her two boys back.

The father therefore made the 16-hour drive to the border to drop off his children in a refugee camp.

And that's when they came across the GSCF team by chance,” continues Thierry Velu.

Arrived at the right place, at the right time, the two young Ukrainians embark almost in stride to find their mother in Belgium, warned by telephone.

After several hours on the road, the reunion takes place on Friday at 6 a.m. in the Belgian Ardennes, near Liège.

Our file on the war in Ukraine

“I let you imagine the emotion of a mother who has been necessarily worried for weeks.

Everyone was in tears when they arrived.

It's a magical moment that doesn't happen often.

And it feels good in these difficult times, ”recognizes the president of the NGO Le GSCF, which is appealing for donations to be able to continue its missions, will leave to bring equipment to Ukraine in two weeks.

Hoping to still be able to give heart balm to a traumatized population.

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