Oxana* came to meet Gabriela. He looked at her and smiled. In a fit, he hugged her. They intertwined in a long and meaningful grip, without time, in silence, as when two beings who need to meet merge, knowing also that they will never cross paths again.
Oxana told Gabriela how the Russians came to Ukraine and stole food from her gardens, asked for her documents, and how she confronted them.
“Why have they come to our lands and houses, to loot?” he rebuked them.
“Go back to your country,” he added.
The Russians did not answer him.
Oxana is worried about her son and nephew, who are at the front.
He looked at Gabriela and wept. She is not alone. A Venezuelan is with her.
A Venezuelan in Ukraine
Gabriela Camargo she is venezuelan She was born in Caracas 31 years ago. She studied Social Communication at the Universidad Santa María, although she never worked as a journalist. She lives in Germany, where she arrived after a journey that she began in 2019, which made her spend time in the Caribbean islands, thanks to the efforts of a Christian group to which she belongs. She has been to dozens of countries.
He has been to Ukraine three times, the first time was in October 2021. “I was in a city called Ternopil, which is to the west, where I stayed for two months. It was before the war,” she stated.
There he fell ill with covid-19. “It was intense because in the hospital no one spoke English, only Russian or Ukrainian, and I didn’t even know what I had,” she said.
After overcoming the disease, he was able to visit other cities, before leaving for Kenya, where he worked for a time in orphanages.
Gabriela returned to Ukraine in February 2022, just at the height of the tension, exacerbating rumors about the start of the war.
“It was super stressful. I packed my things and left immediately for Cyprus. Being there the war broke out,” she said.
“Emotionally it was not easy. I relived many of the things I experienced in Venezuela”he stated.
“They have a lot of accumulated anger”
In June he visited Ukraine for the third time, already with the war in full swing. This time she was not alone. She was accompanied by five people: a Mexican, two Germans, a Swiss and an American.
“We met people who come to the border with Poland to detect if there is human trafficking. We bring humanitarian aid, medical supplies and food, and talk to people. War is experienced differently on the border, everything is more dramatic”, he recounted.
He was in Mikolaiv, a city of 500,000 people located in southern Ukraine, which was bombed by Russian forces in late July. Nearby, on the outskirts, he met Oxana.
He also visited Bashtanka, a small town to the east, and Kyiv, the country’s capital and largest city. He was able to go to Chernobyl, and see the destruction caused by the Russians and the spirit of the people who, despite the difficulties, try to repair their homes. The area is mined.
“Within Ukraine there are many people who in the midst of the crisis live a normal life, as is done in Venezuela. It seems that they got used to the chaos. You are in a town that is being bombed, but where the restaurants and bars are open. The siren sounds and one gets upset, but they look at it normally, there is like an acceptance process, ”he said.
“There are also others who do not give up, with a lot of accumulated anger, with a lot of patriotism and very high morale”he stated.
The stories of the settlers are dramatic, he said: “They tell you that the Russians entered the houses, that things were stolen, that they raped women, that they burned the bodies of the people they murdered”.
“There will never be a justification for invading someone, making a war or killing anyone. There are no excuses for what happens.”sentenced.
Posttraumatic stress
Gabriela suffers from post-traumatic stress. The days after her visit to Ukraine have been extremely difficult.
“Since I arrived it has cost me a lot. I have felt disconnected,” she recounted.
“The intensity of what I have felt has made me feel bad, even physically. I had to call a friend who is a psychologist to talk,” she added.
Gabriela stated that she has cried as if a family member had been killed. She is on edge mentally and emotionally.
*Oxana in Ukrainian means “the hospitable one”, “hospitality to the foreigner, to the outsider”.