Since they fled Ukraine in early March last year, Olena and her two children have lived in Chișinău, the capital of Moldova – while her husband remained in Ukraine.

“It was very unexpected. I woke up in the morning, and my husband was at home. I asked him why he wasn’t working, and he said ‘There is war in our country’… I thought he was joking.”

Olena shakes her head, still in disbelief. “He gave me his phone with a news page up, and I read it. Kyiv had been bombed at night.”

“I called my mum. She lives in Mykolaiv. She told me she had heard the explosions, and that there had been an attack at night. After that day, everything changed in my life.”

No protection from the freezing winter

“This winter is very difficult for us, for all Ukrainian people, because of the cold weather. People who lost their homes don't have the same living conditions as other people, who can come home and have a hot cup of tea and warm food," Olena explains.

“We don’t have warm clothes. We moved to other countries, to other cities and stay there alone, without our families.”

Before the escalation of the war on 24 February, Olena worked as a Sales Manager. Her husband had worked with cars for the past 20 years. Olena dreamt of more. She wanted to change jobs, get into IT. “But in a moment, everything changed.”

2 March 2022. Olena gets a phone call. It’s from one of her girlfriends. She was going to Moldova – did Olena want to come too? She decided she had to go: “You never know what will happen,” she says. “I never expected that I would leave Ukraine.”

Olena only packed the essentials. Passports, clothes and some things for her children, Anna and Oscar. She thought they’d be staying in Moldova for two or three weeks. Then, she thought, everything would be back to normal.

They left the next morning.

Olena’s husband drove them to the border, where they said their goodbyes. He had to stay behind. “I don’t really have words for it. My heart was hurting so much,” Olena says. “But I had to be strong, because I was with my children, and I had to show them an example… of how to behave; how to be strong and how to protect yourself.”

“So I switched on some music, and tried to only focus on the music. I wanted to leave all my thoughts behind, because I had to get my children to a safe place. That was the only thought in my head: My children have to be safe.”

A waiting game

November 2022. Olena and the children return to Odesa and her husband for three weeks, to get documents for her daughter Anna. “My son Oscar got a passport in 2019, before Covid, because we were celebrating New Year’s Eve in Romania.”

They were hoping to stay. But after two days without electricity; without hot water and light; Olena realised that it isn’t a safe place for the children to stay during winter, and they returned to Moldova. “I was waiting, waiting, waiting, because anything could happen. I didn’t know if I’d have a home or a husband the day after.”

“This winter is very difficult. I hope I never have to experience a harder winter than this,” Olena says. “I don’t have my husband with me, I haven’t seen my mum in more than a year. I hope that next winter will be spent together, the whole family, without any bombs. Without air sirens, attacks, and without fear that something bad will happen. I just want to be back home, in my peaceful Ukraine, and see my native people and my family.

I miss them very, very much.”

Giving warmth to refugees from Ukraine

“This work is really close to my heart as a humanitarian, but also as a former refugee,” says Khushal Wakily, who leads Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)’s winter response for refugees in Moldova.

“30 years ago, when I was 12 years old, I was forced to leave my home in Afghanistan for the first time. So as a child I became internally displaced, and then a refugee,” Khushal says, clearly moved. He doesn’t share his story often. “So for me, it’s really rewarding that I’m able to reach the refugees and help them as much as I can.”

Our winterisation response has been ongoing since early December, and targets those living in refugee accommodation centres all over Moldova. In the next few weeks, our team hopes to reach their target of providing warm clothes and other winter items to 2,500 people.

“Our focus and priority is to do this as quickly as we can and reach as many people as we can,” Khushal says. “The Ukrainian refugees were forced to leave their homes because of the conflict, and many left in a hurry. Most of them didn’t pack their winter clothes or other essential items, so it is critical that we get to them during this very cold weather and provide them with warm clothes, warm boots and other items that are necessary for the winter.”

This winter has been extremely cold. The dry air combined with lots of wind makes for a raw, biting cold that chills you to the bone.

“I can personally testify that it’s critical that the refugees receive this support,” Khushal says. “Our teams work daily, every hour of the day. These people have been forced out of their homes, from their lives, from their families, from their friends.”

It’s the second week of January this year. Our winter team is getting ready for their third distribution of the day. People in the refugee accommodation centre are all gathering in a colourful room at the centre, which used to be a playroom for the children. The walls are covered in children’s drawings and leaves painted in different colours. Christmas decorations are still up after the residents celebrated Orthodox Christmas the weekend before. A Ukrainian flag hangs over a couch, swaying slightly when the door opens and closes as more people enter the room.

Distribution is about to start.

The door opens again, and a woman with two young children enter the room; it’s Olena, Oscar and Anna. Half an hour later, they’ve picked up their new winter jackets, thermal underwear, boots, pillows, duvets, bedding and winter accessories.

Former firefighter fights the cold

“Nothing is more terrible than being forced to start a new life, from the beginning. I know for sure that a helping hand can save a life,” says Alexandru, who is part of our winter team in Moldova.

“I dedicated ten years of my life to the emergency service as a firefighter prior to this,” Alex tells us. “I know exactly how important it is to help someone, when after a lifetime of work, they’re left without a home and without clothes. These people have found themselves on the brink of winter, alone, without warm clothes and with little hope.”

When asked about her hopes for the future, Olena says: “My hope is to go back and rebuild our country. To be useful for my people. Now it’s important for all of us to be one people, to be united, and to do everything we can to build a future for our children.”

“I think that when I come back home, I will change my profession. It will not be IT, as I dreamed of. Maybe some type of building profession or something like recreation for people who suffered during the war, for children who have problems. I would like to be a volunteer as well – in my country – to help people who really need it.”

“The most important thing that we have is hope. The mere existence of hope is so important to our collective humanity,” Khushal explains. “We provide them with the hope that these difficult days will pass.”

“Working in the humanitarian sector is challenging. You face difficulties. But at the end of the day, you have a smile on your face. You really feel that you’re doing something for people. You’re in touch with the recipients, and you are helping the most vulnerable people in the world.”

Read more about our work in Moldova here.