Eleven months ago I came from Ukraine. I had a wonderful life before the war. I worked for a pharmaceutical company as an engineer who had to monitor quality. I had an active life. But since February 24, 2022 my life has been turned upside down. I lived right on the border with Russia. On the first day of the war, Russian soldiers surrounded our city. We couldn't go anywhere. People who tried to get out of the city were killed.
But as terrifying as it was, my kids, my friends and I decided to leave anyway. My mother had been living in the Netherlands since the first day of the war. She has relatives who live here and they invited her to come to this safe country.
I came to the Netherlands two months after the start of the war. Now we live in a small cozy house. My children go to school and play football. We now sleep without fear for our lives. I fell in love with the Netherlands and the Dutch.
I have met many helpful people with a big heart. I now work at Gasunie as a process engineer. I am very grateful to my friend Willemijn for her help with finding work and with the integration in the new country.
