“My daughter kept.
Screaming and crying.
That we forgot daddy.
I needed to be strong.”
On 24 February 2022.
‘Mordor’ invaded Ukraine.
That morning.
Her life “changed forever”.
She and her husband.
Woke up to the sounds of.
Planes flying overhead.
And bombs exploding.
‘Orcs’ troops were roaming their city.
The lights started going out.
And the mobile networks.
Had gone down.
All the shops and.
Supermarkets were being looted.
She was left trying to look after.
Her five-year-old daughter in a war zone.
The south of Ukraine had always been.
An area abundant with crops.
Of wheat, sunflowers and vegetables.
“Everything vanished”.
Amid days of shelling.
Her daughter had stomach pains.
So severe that the doctor initially.
Thought it was appendicitis.
The ambulance would not.
Have been able to.
Reach them at night.
Because of the curfew.
It turned out.
Her daughter had been so scared.
Of the explosions.
She had become severely constipated.
She was frustrated.
Trying to find medication and.
Confronted an ‘orc’ soldier who told her.
They were there to liberate them.
“I told them to tell that.
To my child who needs medicine.
Which we can’t get.
Because of them.”
“My daughter kept.
Screaming and crying.
That we forgot daddy.
I needed to be strong.”
The event that tipped.
Them over the edge.
Was shelling.
On their daughter’s birthday.
“It was dreadful.
When you can’t even buy.
A cake or gift for your child.
Like a normal person.”
She managed to rustle up.
A cake with ingredients.
She could find.
That night they decided to leave.
The family spent weeks.
Travelling to the border.
Sleeping in their car.
Or staying in the houses.
In the houses of villagers who.
Welcomed them along the way.
They drove along.
The front line.
It looked like.
Everything had been torn apart.
“Hungry animals roamed.
And houses were in ruins.”
She and her daughter finally.
Crossed the border.
Into Poland in April.
Leaving her husband behind.
Since ‘orcs’ invasion.
Ukraine has banned men.
Of fighting age from leaving the country.
Unless they have a valid exemption.
“My daughter kept.
Screaming and crying.
That we forgot daddy.
I needed to be strong.”
In Poland.
She and her daughter slept.
In a sports hall alongside.
More than 1,000 people.
Where there was.
A “constant stench”.
They decided.
To go to Germany.
She met a British journalist.
At the station.
Who asked her why she wanted.
To go to the country.
Why did she want?
To go to the country?
“In that moment.
I had no answer.”
“My daughter kept.
Screaming and crying.
That we forgot daddy.
I needed to be strong.”
While in Germany.
The British journalist helped her.
Find the UK government’s.
Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Launched in March 2022.
Almost 100,000 refugees.
Took up the offer to stay with a sponsor.
In the UK for up to six months.
She and her daughter stayed.
In a German camp.
And then stayed with a young German couple.
While they waited for their UK visa.
“My daughter kept.
Screaming and crying.
That we forgot daddy.
I needed to be strong.”
When they arrived in Britain.
They had nothing.
“I didn’t know where.
Carlisle or Cambridgeshire was located.”
“But it didn’t.
Matter to me.”
Their sponsors became.
Like a real family.
But still her daughter.
Couldn’t sleep and.
Often woke at night remembering.
The shelling in Ukraine.
Because she was.
In a new country.
She had to learn.
Everything again.
“I felt like.
A little child being taught.
how to navigate hospitals.
How to pay bills.”
“Everything was new.
It was very hard.
But I understood that.
My daughter was by my side.”
“I understood that.
She needed me.
To be strong.”
“To be strong.”
She had just been.
Awarded a PhD.
In Ukraine.
When the war started.
Now she got a job in a school in Cumbria.
As a learning support assistant.
It was “very scary”.
To start work in a new place.
“When you work with children.
They feel everything.
You can’t deceive them.”
“You can’t deceive them.”
“My daughter kept.
Screaming and crying.
That we forgot daddy.
I needed to be strong.”
As the fighting continues in Ukraine.
She was very grateful to her colleagues.
And to everyone who helped.
Her and her family along the way.
This is the second time.
She will see in the new year.
Thousands of miles away.
From her home in war-torn Ukraine.
She is rebuilding.
Her life and career in the UK.
After fleeing the south-eastern city.
Of Melitopol with her young daughter.
“My daughter kept.
Screaming and crying.
That we forgot daddy.
I needed to be strong.”
*Because I read “Fleeing Ukraine: ‘I needed to be strong for my daughter’” by Pamela Tickell on 31 Dec 2023, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Kateryna and her family and their sponsors Steve and Ellie.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Woman who fled Ukraine for Cumbria: ‘I needed to be strong’ – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Kurama (Japan). «A poet being strong» — a poem about war in Ukraine – Мала Сторінка (storinka.org)
Please join them!
