Filled with sadness and hope to win 2023, hundreds of Ukrainian refugees celebrated their first Christmas since fleeing the Russian invasion at a contemporary theater in Warsaw.
The celebration at Nowy Teatr, a former truck repair shop, is among the 1.5 million Ukrainians who have lived in Poland since the war began – the highest number of any country.
Almost all of them are women as most Ukrainian men of recruitment age are not allowed to leave.
He talks about the pain of giving family holidays away from his wife and son.
“How does it feel?” said Svitlana Borysova, hairdresser, before breaking down in tears.
Aided by friends, Borysova left Ukraine on the first day of the war with her two children, aged three and six, but had to leave her 21-year-old son behind.
Olena Sigitova, who came to the dinner with her 10-year-old daughter Daryna, said: “We are sad but there are new friends, new opportunities”.
“At least not ourselves,” he said, wearing a paper crown typical of Polish Christmas celebrations for the feast day of the Three Kings.
The Christmas meal was organized by Ukrainia House in Warsaw – a non-governmental group that helps refugees settle in Poland.
“The main goal is to give warmth, a sense of home,” Myroslava Keryk, head of the organization, told AFP.
The food includes popular Ukrainian dishes such as beetroot soup borscht as well as vareniki, a type of dumpling, and kutia – whole wheat pudding.
Many wore brightly embroidered Ukrainian shirts.
About 500 people attended the dinner, which also featured traditional Ukrainian songs and words of support for the soldiers defending their country.
“The most important thing for everyone this year is victory. We dream about it so that we can calm down and think about the future,” said Keryk.
‘I’m so scared’
Some women say that childcare duties mean that it is difficult for them to find steady work, but that their children have settled down and are starting to learn Polish in kindergarten and school.
Sigitova, from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine, said she finds it difficult to make time for Polish classes and is grateful to her host family who have supported her and her daughter since the start of the war.
“They said we can count on them if we need them,” said Sigitova, whose husband is in the army.
Borysova said that during her first three months in Poland she hardly left home.
“I was so scared, panicked,” she said.
Since then, he has been a barber at home, unable to find a stable job because he has to take care of his children.
But Natalia Golomsha, who attended the dinner with her eight-year-old son Marko, said she could find a full-time job at a company that helps Ukrainian children study in Poland.
“I was helped by my friends, my contacts, but also my desire and ability to adapt to the situation,” he said.
Kateryna Krahmalova, a university researcher from Kyiv, said she too has been looking for work and has the advantage of speaking Polish.
“The main thing is the people I love are with me, so my home is where they are,” he said.