The Stories We are, Natalya: “I ran away to Rome but my heart is in Kiev”

Natalya Martininka he worked in Kiev as an English teacher. A few days before the outbreak of war in her country, Ukraine, she had come to Italy to visit some of her friends. “P.The invasion began and I immediately returned to take away my son, who had stayed in Kiev with his uncle“. When she arrived in Rome, Natalya was thinking of spending a few days with friends and returning to her country, to everyday life with her son and her pupils at school.

“When the first news of the start of the Russian invasion arrived, I looked for the first possible way to return to Ukraine and rescue my son.” After a day, Natalya succeeded. “We met at the Lviv station, his uncle helped him to catch the train and left our house with a backpack on his shoulders”. Then for Natalya and her son began the long journey to get out of Ukraine and seek a bit of tranquility in Italy, in Rome.

“We took a car from Lviv and after a few hours in a row we chose to continue on foot. We walked for about ten kilometers, then we arrived at the border and waited in line for another three hours before crossing the border ». With another bus and the plane, Natalya and her son arrived in Rome.

“It was a difficult journey, we were very tired and my son was tested by the bombings and by the days spent in fear in the underground shelter. Here in Rome he is fine now ». But Natalya’s heart is in Ukraine. “It’s the country where I was born, my mother is there, my son has his friends, his school, that’s where we built the life. S.we are happy to be here in Rome, especially for him it is important because he has experienced traumatic moments but our desire is to return to Ukraine. We don’t want to leave our people. ”

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Source: Vanity Fair

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