Sonia, a 17 Ukrainian girl, came to PMF to tell her story and share the experience of her life as a refugee.

Sonia, a 17 Ukrainian girl, came to PMF to tell her story and share the experience of her life as a refugee.

In 2014, she first left Dombås when war happened and moved to Kyiv. After the outbreak of war on the 16th of February 2022, she left with her mum by train to go to Lviv to reach the Polish border.

They had to wait for five long hours in the cold Ukrainian weather for the next train to Europe. The train was overcrowded so that even pregnant women could not seat. There was absolutely no sympathy between the women.

Once in Poland she felt very welcomed contrary to Italy where she had a bad experience after as she considered being misunderstood. She tried to go to school there but English translators were needed and there was none.

Thanks to her mother’s network, she flew to France, in Bordeaux, then through the French Red Cross, she found an accommodation in Aix-en-Provence.

She received money and clothes from second-hand shops. She is suffering from long days without anything to do and in the meantime, she’s revising to take her exam.

It was interesting and moving to have her first-hand testimony even if her point of view was obviously influenced by her trauma.