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.jpeg "How these Ukrainian women are spending their first Christmas away from home")
“Here in Bucharest, I’m not sure how Christmas is celebrated, but we’ll definitely have Kutya and uzvar. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to this day. No matter what the New Year will bring, I don’t want it to take away my family and friends. The most important thing is that those I love are still alive.”
Svetlana: ‘This will be my first Christmas away from home, even though I’m over 40’
Svetlana, a refugee from southern Ukraine, poses for a portrait outside a church in east Moldova, where she has come to collect a DEC-funded Food & Hygiene kit for her family, on August 15th 2022. Action Against Hunger is working with local partner, Communitas, whose operations in east Moldova are 100% DEC funded. Food and non-food items are organised at a central warehouse and distributed to host communities via local hubs across the region.Disasters Emergency Committee
Svetlana is currently in Moldova with her children. Prior to the Russian invasion, she lived in Odessa with her husband, children, and their dog. “We stayed at home for almost two months [after the invasion],” she tells GLAMOUR. “We hid in the basements during air alerts. We tried not to go anywhere and stay at home for all this time.
“This will be my first Christmas away from home, even though I’m over 40. We always gathered the whole family at the festive table, exchanged gifts, told stories, joked and had a good time together. Unfortunately, this year we will just have to celebrate it with each other on the phone – if there is an internet connection and light.”
“Sadly, I have no plans [for Christmas]. I’m in Moldova with my children, but, to be honest, I haven’t thought about the holiday yet, and even more so, how we will celebrate it. We will probably set the table for three and will think about our noisy holidays in Ukraine, look through photos, and play board games.”
“For 2023, I wish, like most of Ukrainians, for a return home to our peaceful and native Ukraine. I want my relatives and loved ones to be healthy and alive. I wish that the people of Ukraine will never know such a grief as war again! I wish that families can be reunited and we can all live happily in our native land.”
Iris*: ‘We’re not going to make a lot of noise’
Iris* is 44 years old and has two children. She is spending Christmas in a bomb shelter in Ukraine with her children. “We will have to celebrate [Christmas] down here [in the bomb shelter,” she tells GLAMOUR. “The holiday is [still] happening. It’s not the kids’ fault. And Father Christmas will come to see them. He will bring them gifts.