Violets

Nastya's Story

The War

In 2019, my mother was hospitalized, and her condition began to worsen. She has multiple sclerosis and inflammation has appeared in her lower back. I asked my grandmother to come from Russia to help me with my mother. Then COVID happened. Then my mother's rehabilitation. Grandma got stuck with us, she is 88 years old already. Even then, I thought: "Nastya, what else can happen?"

Evacuation

Early in the morning on March 3, 2022, our evacuation from Kharkiv to Dnipro began. The distance from Kharkiv to Dnipro is only 250 km, but we drove for 17 hours. Cars drove on all four lanes, on roads where there was no shelling. Everything that had wheels was moving, everything was mixed up, people, horses... I especially remember one car, completely filled with people, which was pulling another car on a cable, filled with people, children, animals... One day, every Ukrainian will write a book: "My evacuation". The authors will be different, but the book is the same. The men remained to defend. My older brother stayed in Kharkiv.

Musya the Cat

At the moment of evacuation and panic, the cat Musya ran away and hid. She is a domestic cat, but weird. We had to leave urgently, and couldn’t find her. I said to myself then: "You stay here, but I will definitely come back for you." Men were bringing her food and water, anything they could get. I told them: "Guys, please bring whatever you find, she will eat everything." One day, I was even able to order online scarce cat food, which she loved, and the guys delivered it. After several months, I was able to return back and take her with us. My Musya is a civilian frontwoman, my talisman. Now we are all together. I did not abandon my cat.

Place Where You Can Relax

Our first place of forced resettlement was in the village of my father's big family near Rivne. A family is a place where you can relax. I am very grateful to them. Exhale.Inhale. Leave your comfort zone. I also screamed. I went into the woods and screamed there. We need our space, a place where we can all function during the war. I need good Internet for work, and my mother and grandmother need medicine. We set off again, to the Ivano-Frankivsk region. We are strong when we are all together, this is a triple power.

New Year

This was SUCH a Year! After all, we did not wish for it. But you think: "I will cope with it." When 2023 came, I thought: "That's what we plowed!" This is a scary and inspiring experience. Terrible experience. But it only makes us stronger and angrier. What is the situation with the electricity? You know, we have emergency power-off schedules on the day of shelling. Today we shot down two rockets! Ми переможемо! (We will win)I will not translate this word. That's right — МИ ПЕРЕМОЖИМО!

Under a Kind Roof

I stood in line to receive assistance for forcibly displaced people, saw an advertisement for housing assistance, filled out an application for my mother, and we were quickly contacted. I told Stas (volunteer in this program) that I have two grandmothers, but one of them does not have a legal residence status. Stas said that, most likely, aid will be allocated to both grandmothers. A couple of days later we received a money transfer to my mother's account for both of them. It was very fast and without bureaucracy. It saved us a lot. You are amazing!

Violets

Are you asking me why I call my mother and grandmother violets? I do not want to speak from the position, I have a disabled mother and an elderly grandmother. That’s why I say — my violets. After all, these flowers are not very adaptable to external conditions, they just need care and attention.

Yana Sikorskaya communicated and recorded the conversation.
Marta Kaplan edited and translated.