Ukrainian refugee Anastasiia Ivanova says her religion is what’s helped her get by way of all of her trials. She introduced her Bible along with her when the household fled Kharkiv for a brand new house in Brazil. But a brand new disaster made her marvel if Brazil was the proper place for her.

Gabriela Portilho/NPR

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Gabriela Portilho/NPR

Ukrainian refugee Anastasiia Ivanova says her religion is what’s helped her get by way of all of her trials. She introduced her Bible along with her when the household fled Kharkiv for a brand new house in Brazil. But a brand new disaster made her marvel if Brazil was the proper place for her.

Gabriela Portilho/NPR

Shortly after the warfare in Ukraine broke out in February 2022, Laryssa Moskvichova and her three daughters fled the bombs falling from the sky over their Kharkiv neighborhood. By a circuitous route they wound up in an unfamiliar nation: Brazil, and ultimately a city within the south known as Prudentópolis, referred to as “Little Ukraine” due to the numerous Ukrainians who’d settled there a century in the past. Last yr we introduced you the story of how this household, displaced by the warfare in Europe, was discovering neighborhood and belonging in South America.

We caught up with Laryssa and her oldest daughter a yr later to learn the way they have been faring because the warfare in Ukraine grinds on.

Prudentópolis was, in some ways, the right touchdown pad for Laryssa Moskvichova and her daughters Anastasiia, Sofia and Ruslana after their winding journey by way of Ukraine, Poland and Germany. There, they have been capable of converse Ukrainian with many residents, descendants of the primary Ukrainians who settled Prudentópolis 116 years earlier than. Other parts of their tradition have been additionally nonetheless current in on a regular basis life within the city of 52,000, together with music, dance and the intricate designs of pysanka, conventional Ukrainian Easter eggs.

They made quick associates with Andreia Burko Bley, her husband, Paulo Bley, and their two younger sons, one the identical age as Ruslana. With their assist, the refugees felt extra at house than they ever anticipated in a spot up to now and so completely different from what they’d recognized.

But after a yr within the small city, they realized they needed to go.

Despite Brazil’s comparatively liberal policies on accepting asylum seekers, many refugees discover that there’s little support from the government as soon as they settle.

Anastasiia went by way of a well being scare, needing surgical procedure to right a collapsed lung. While the general public health-care system in Brazil was obtainable to them — even non-residents can enter Brazil and use it at no cost — they apprehensive it would not be capable of assist her rapidly sufficient. Private well being care would possibly supply sooner therapy and higher entry to the newest medical expertise, they have been instructed, nevertheless it additionally price excess of they might afford. Luckily, a pal stepped in and provided to pay.

The household felt they could not threat one other well being disaster in a rustic the place they have been uncertain they might get the required care rapidly sufficient.

The two youthful sisters have been struggling, too, finding out at a Brazilian faculty in the course of the day and taking on-line lessons by way of a Ukrainian faculty at night time. Sofiia, now 15, discovered it troublesome to understand why they could not go house.

The deeply non secular household noticed all these developments as indicators from God. They determined they needed to make a change.

After using her bike to the park in the future, Anastasiia, now 23, sat on a bench to learn the Bible and pray, asking God for steering. She hoped to see one other signal. When nothing got here, she turned to her bike, able to pedal house.

There, written on the steel body, have been the phrases “German Technology World.”

“I didn’t want to believe it,” says Anastasiia. “Because I didn’t want to go. I had heard a lot of things about Germany and a lot of them weren’t good. But it was the answer. It just came to me in a different way than I expected.”

In the weeks to return, Anastasiia says she noticed different indicators: German flags in locations the place they as soon as weren’t, a German household transferring to Prudentópolis and associates of Laryssa’s in Germany telling her to make the transfer. Even a Brazilian pal instructed the household it might be finest to go away, because the nation was struggling economically and authorities assist for refugees was insufficient.

The household started exploring a transfer. Anastasiia requested round to see if anyone in her circle knew of somebody in Germany who may assist. Three completely different individuals really helpful a Ukrainian pastor at an evangelical church just like hers. He had gone to Germany firstly of the warfare and rebuilt his church there. The pastor had helped many Ukrainian households discover a place to dwell of their new house — one thing that may take months, as demand for housing within the nation is excessive — and his church offered them with funds to make the journey there.

To Anastasiia’s shock, simply three or 4 days after she first phoned him, the pastor discovered her a room in Regensburg, a Bavarian metropolis on the Danube River, that she may share with one other Ukrainian girl. She was planning to dwell on her personal as she had earlier than fleeing Ukraine. Her mom and siblings would go as nicely, however because the household departed Brazil, Laryssa, Sofiia and Ruslana have been nonetheless unsure the place they’d dwell.

The household landed on the Frankfurt airport on Easter Day and Anastasiia took a practice to her new house within the southeast. Laryssa and her two youngest daughters have been despatched to a refugee camp, normal process for refugees arriving in Germany who do not have already got housing. They would spend three weeks in 4 completely different camps arrange in stadium-sized areas, the place showers weren’t at all times obtainable, lights have been at all times on and noise by no means dimmed. Many of the a whole bunch of individuals within the shared area have been sick.

Laryssa’s one pal in Germany, Tatiana, had been in search of housing for the household. When Laryssa bought the information {that a} house had been discovered for her and her two youthful daughters, reduction washed over them. With funds equipped by authorities assist, they moved right into a four-bedroom, 300-year-old house within the spa city of Bad-Orb, simply outdoors of Frankfurt and a six-hour practice experience from Anastasiia.

Because Laryssa is not but allowed to work, she spends her days finding out German on-line, utilizing YouTube movies and different free lessons to study as a lot as she will be able to till she begins the federal government’s integration lessons early subsequent yr. When Sofiia and Ruslana aren’t in class — they’ve determined to cease attending Ukrainian faculty on-line and solely research at German faculty in the course of the day — their favourite locations to go are the numerous parks and heat salt-water swimming pools of their new hometown and the retailers that line its streets.

The funding they obtain from the German authorities is not a lot, nevertheless it’s sufficient to get by — greater than what they obtained in Brazil. And the medical health insurance that covers all of them places them comfy. Laryssa is aware of the transfer has been good for her daughters, however she struggles with not with the ability to work and keep it up along with her life. She misses her mother and father, who stayed behind in Poltava, and worries about their well being. With only one pal in Germany, Laryssa says she usually feels remoted and longs for the life she had earlier than the warfare.

“Then I had freedom, I had happiness,” she says. “But even if I wanted to go back to Ukraine now, there’s nothing there for me anymore. Our house is more than 100 years old and it likely didn’t survive the bombings. If it did, it would require so much work and money to fix it, and there are no jobs with decent salaries. And even if all that wasn’t a problem, it’s still not safe.”

For Anastasiia, it has been a better transition. In July, she completed her arts diploma by way of on-line studying and is contemplating instructing singing as she did in Ukraine. Her government-provided German language lessons begin in September. She has develop into good associates along with her roommate and constructed a supportive neighborhood by way of her church.

“They’re wonderful people,” she says. “We make plans together, laugh together, sing and play music together. It’s exactly what I need.”

When the house owners of the condominium the place Anastasiia lives gave her an outdated bike, she mounted its defective brakes and began using it by way of the paths within the forest she will be able to see from her bed room window.

She’s not but positive how lengthy she’ll keep in Germany — “after so many changes, who knows where I’ll be in a year” — however for now, she’s joyful. She is aware of that being protected and settled, even quickly, is greater than what many different Ukrainians have proper now because the warfare continues to ravage her nation.

“The people here are so nice, the weather is great and there’s so much nature where I can be at peace,” she says. “I can see that I’m living an answered prayer.”