women's day
Refugees in Moldova, these Ukrainians dream of returning home
Katerina Ilienko helps other Ukrainian refugees.
© Agnieszka Kumor / RFI
Text by: Agnieszka Kumor
3 mins
Women in the world are also these Ukrainians, refugees in Moldova.
Welcomed with generosity in this very poor country threatened by Russia, they were able to continue to live decently.
But they miss their home, their country.
Ukrainian refugees dream of being able to return home.
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Hanging from his worn jacket, a ribbon in the colors of the Ukrainian national flag, blue and yellow.
This March 8, Ludmila celebrates her 60th birthday.
But the mood is not festive.
The war in Ukraine has entered its second year.
A former accountant from the Zhytomyr region, Ludmila calls herself a patriot.
In 2014, when the pro-European protests in Maidan Square in Kiev broke out, she was there with her son and recalls: “There were
deaths at the time.
The Hundred Celestials, victims for democracy.
Today, my son is on the front in Bakhmout.
»
Rest and go home
We are at the Pope Francis Kitchen, a reception center for destitute Ukrainians and Moldovans, set up jointly by the Regina Pacis Foundation with the Diocese of Chisinau.
Ludmila came there for help.
“
The Moldavians are generous and sincere
,” confides this woman.
They offer hospitality and a sense of security to refugees.
But what to do ?
If her husband tolerates exile better, she remains worried for her son and grandson who have remained in the country, on the other side of the border located 130 kilometers from Chisinau.
Ludmila's husband needs heart surgery.
But such a heavy operation in a Moldovan public hospital seems complicated: “
An operation is expensive in Ukraine.
We thought we could do it here, but it's impossible.
So we're going to go home.
»
It is true that Moldova is economically very poor.
Its GDP per capita was estimated at $5,355.80 in 2022 [Source: World Bank].
That is to say, it would be between that of Algeria and Albania.
The Moldovan health system needs modernization and public hospitals still bear the scars of the Covid-19 health crisis.
There is a chronic lack of doctors, especially family doctors, the lack of medical equipment is felt especially in the countryside and the bureaucracy in this former Soviet republic is still very present.
A comforting word
On the other side of the desk, her hand resting on a computer keyboard, Katerina Ilienko, an employee of the centre.
A 43-year-old pharmacist from Kharkiv, she fled the war with her daughter.
On the wall, a calendar hanging close to his head and a date surrounded by a red heart: February 24.
A sad anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Katerina moved to the Moldavian capital nine months ago.
With a sad face, she says: “
People who come here are really in need.
I'm alright.
I have the roof, I have a job, enough to eat, my daughter is with me.
She follows the courses online from her university in Kharkiv.
And me, I help my compatriots to find accommodation or to complete formalities with the authorities.
We distribute basic necessities.
I offer them a comforting word.
The face of this 43-year-old woman finally lights up.
When the war is over, whispers this refugee, we will rebuild our country.
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To read also War in Ukraine: what becomes of refugee women and children in Poland
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