Masha said she is grateful for the cash assistance because it gives her some sense of control when so much is out of her hands. Her parents are just some of thousands of Ukrainians who have either returned or go back and forth, usually returning to areas of Ukraine less impacted by the conflict. It’s a major cause for concern for Masha, but finances are difficult and she also has elderly grandparents still in Mariupol. ![]() Her parents left Mariupol, but ended up returning since the area is fully under Russian control and they felt airstrikes were less likely. Ukraine shares a border with Hungary, but Masha traveled through several countries before settling in Hungary. Grateful for Cash Assistance In the city of Gyor in northwestern Hungary, Masha is a young expectant mother from Mariupol, who has also benefitted from Red Cross multi-purpose cash assistance. Despite the fact most Moldovans speak Russian, she said it is difficult to find work without speaking the local Romanian language. Maryna said she cannot work because of her infant son and she can’t leave the baby alone with her mother. Maryna has received Red Cross multi-purpose cash assistance as well as regular financial assistance from UNHCR. The generosity of American Red Cross donors has made a difference in the lives of thousands of Ukrainians, Maryna is one of them. Maryna added that the children also miss their dad who they were able to see for their baby brother’s first birthday in July. Her middle son is four and has to speak Romanian at school. She doesn’t have friends like she did in Ukraine. Her eldest daughter has been studying online and recently finished fourth grade, but Maryna said it’s unclear how much longer the online school instruction will continue. ![]() “I’m worried that it’s not the childhood I wanted for my children,” Maryna said between sighs. Her husband, meanwhile, remains in Ukraine because they own a small business that makes and sells parts for heating equipment and this is their main source of income. Maryna is living in Moldova with her three children and elderly mother. The international armed conflict, which escalated on February 24 th of last year, is ongoing with no clear end in sight. We don’t know how long the war will be… I wish this new year will bring peace for Ukraine.” “My friends are still hearing alarms, nobody feels safe, no one knows anything. For her loved ones still in Ukraine life is even harder still. We are not there, we are not really here, we are still strangers here, like passengers at an airport,” Maryna said. We recently caught up with Maryna during the Jewish High Holidays, and Maryna told us her concerns have only grown. For Maryna and other refugees like her, the one-year mark was a difficult milestone psychologically, because it represented the continuation of the conflict in a very real way. We first met Maryna in her Chisinau apartment in February around the time of the one-year mark of the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. “But it’s still dangerous, it’s not safe.” It’s a feeling echoed by nearly all Ukrainian beneficiaries we have spoken with.Īs the escalation of the conflict enters its twentieth month, more than five million Ukrainians are displaced within Ukraine and Maryna is one of some six million Ukrainians who have been forced to leave their country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). ‘ Our Lives Are Hanging In The Air’ “I really want to go home, we miss Ukraine very much, we miss our home,” said Maryna Sereda, a Ukrainian refugee, from her current home in Moldova. ![]() For its part, the American Red Cross has funded cash assistance and other aid to Ukrainians both in Ukraine and in the surrounding region, including in Moldova. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, the global Red Cross network has stood by and assisted people as they have faced the most heartbreaking of circumstances.
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