The flight from the war, disguised as a game: this is how they managed to bring the children of an orphanage in Ukraine to Poland

Orphans from the Ukrainian town of Kovel, now refugees in an old building in Lodz, Poland, still they believe that their escape from the war “is part of a game”. They left the orphanage with three caretakers blindfolded to “play” a version of hide-and-seek that they had been “practicing for a couple of days.”

The director of the orphanage, Halina Jowic, explained to her 35 children that if they heard the sirens, they had to be quick and hide in the basement, but the ultimate goal was to run to the bus to get going as soon as possible. The award? “That we are going on vacation to Poland”assures that he told them.

The getaway trip was “very hard”, but everything possible was done so that the little ones did not realize the real situation. The ultimate goal, in fact, was to get them to safety outside the Ukraine because Vladimir Putin’s forces were intensifying the bombing of the country.

It lasted a total of almost eight hours and upon reaching the border they had to cross on foot into Poland along with another group of orphans who had also escaped from another center: in total, 94 minors between three and 16 years old They were picked up by buses sent to the border by the Happy Kids Foundation, which has helped evacuate thousands of Ukrainian children and continues to try to remove minors from other orphanages across the country, where there are more than 150,000 children in foster homes. .

Refugees in Poland

The group has now found refuge in Lodz, in a building that had previously housed a reception institution for Polish minors and was practically empty. In addition to the children, there are volunteers assembling furniture, two cooks and several educators trying to make it the closest thing to a home.

“We would like to go back to Ukraine soon, but I don’t know,” Jowic doubts. Irina Chosik, one of the caregivers, does not separate from the smallest of the group and cannot hold back her tears either: “We just want to go back to Ukrainethis is being a nightmare, although the Poles have given us everything,” he says. “That day bombs began to be dropped and shots were heard, when the war began,” he recalls.

The children of Kovel also share space with children with disabilities and special needs, who stay on the second floor of the building, but in these circumstances it is difficult to offer special attention to each of the groups and the Ukrainian orphanages have not been able to bring all your staff. Jowic only has one request for the international community and above all for Europe: “We need a no-fly zone so children can leave Ukrainewe must stop the bombing to get children and women out,” he urges, while recalling that the Russian forces do not distinguish between civilians and military targets in their attacks.

One of the children who came with her to this orphanage is his own grandson. She has two children, a 29-year-old girl who is a military officer by profession and a 30-year-old boy recruited by the Ukrainian Army after the Russian invasion. Now they are both fighting Moscow troops and she has to take care of her grandson. “Just as they have the goal of defending Ukraine, my mission is to save the lives of these children, who have neither a place to be nor the care of their parents“, he assures.

The mayor of Lodz, Hanna Zdanowska, promises to do everything possible for the children who are still trapped in Ukraine, such as a group of 17 babies who have arrived this week at the city’s hospitals, after two weeks in a kyiv basement, developing severe pneumonia that put their lives at risk.

Jowic thanks him for welcoming these hundred orphans, and as a gesture of thanks, the children gather in the room to sing the Ukrainian anthem. They do it with a hand on their heart, and without losing sight of their caregivers. “We’ve done our best and it seems that, for now, most have not realized the war“, celebrates the director.