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Our stories

Story of Irka

My name is Ira, but my friends call me Irka… My story is similar to the stories of many other Emmaus boys and girls: I was abandoned and lived in an orphanage for years. When I met Emmaus, I made friends who saw me as valuable, someone special and precious. My life changed. When the full-scale invasion began, Elena came to our house and told us that we had to leave the next morning. The only thing we were able to save and bring from Ukraine was our friendship, we were able to take with us that home, made of relationships, love, and affection. In Italy, we found many friends who greeted us as if they had been waiting for us forever, and this helped me to see the bright moments even in such a painful context as war. When I talk about Emmaus, I do not mean the organization, because for me it is a family that loves me. And I am happy to be a part of this family.

Story of Vika

My name is Vika, and thanks to Emmaus, I am living on

 

I was born with a disability, so I attended a special school. I did very well in school, but I often felt lonely because people only talked to me when they needed something. When I graduated, I was invited to work with the Emmaus Workshop. Together with other girls, we started preparing for various exhibitions. For the first time, people were with me not because they needed something from me, but because they loved me. I was happy.

Then the full-scale invasion began. On March 2, 2022, I left Kharkiv with my parents to leave Ukraine. I arrived in Italy on March 8 in Novazza, where there were others from Emmaus, and my parents went to Switzerland.

It is impossible to describe in words what it is like to live when there is a war at home… The pain of seeing my beloved city being destroyed is unbearable, and it seems that you can only really live when the war is over. But I realize that life cannot be postponed, and the most important thing for me is to realize how precious it is. It helps me a lot that I am not alone: now I live with people I can trust, who help me and love me.

I continue to live.

 

Story of Tamara

My name is Tamara, and I realized what it means to love​

 

Before the war started, I had a great job: I worked in a fast-food restaurant. I was on my feet for seven hours a day, but it didn’t bother me. I liked being independent, I wanted to do everything myself. When I was told that I had to go to Italy because there might be a war, it was as if my world suddenly collapsed.

When the full-scale Russian invasion began, I was in Italy. For the first few months, I couldn’t do anything and thought only about the pain of many children and people in my country. It helped me a lot that my Emmaus tutors and friends were going through the same experience: I always had people around me who deeply understood my pain because it was their pain, and they helped me to see and accept the beautiful things I was experiencing here in Italy.

Last summer, I was invited to interpret meetings during a vacation. Everything changed there: I met people who immediately began to love me. I’ve never had someone get attached to me so quickly before. It helps me to keep going.

This year, I realized that I need others, that I don’t want to do everything alone. I realized what it means to love and feel loved in return.

Story of Arthur

My name is Arthur, and Ukraine will always be in my heart When I was a child, my sister and I went to an orphanage. Later on, an organization found me an Italian family and I always went to visit them in summer and winter to spend a good time together. That was the first time I started to feel like I was part of a family that I had never had. When I left the boarding school, I didn’t know where to go, and then I met Emmaus and joined one of their projects. There were great tutors there who took me in like family and helped me find a job. They always took me seriously: for example, once I jokingly said that I would like to drive a car, and after a while, I was enrolled in a driving school. The tutors helped me complete the course and get my driver’s license. I started to trust Emmaus and realized how important we children are to them and how much they love us. Then Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, and I suffer a lot when I see the pictures of pain in my country from a distance, suffering from the fact that I cannot defend my city. The only thing that helps me now is the support and love I get from Emmaus and my family.

Story of Iryna

I am Iryna, and in Emmaus I found a family​

 

Until I was thirty-three, I lived in an orphanage near Kharkiv. My childhood was not easy: I lacked love and attention, and I often wanted to talk about myself, but no one would listen. Then the director of the orphanage introduced me to people from Emmaus, who took me in. I didn’t know how to do anything, and I was amazed at how much they taught me to read and do math. I realized that they loved me and gradually began to trust them.

I trusted them even when they told me that a full-scale war had started and we would have to go to Italy. I was scared because I had never traveled so far. But I agreed because Elena told me that everything would be fine and that I would not be alone: I could trust her because she took me out of the boarding school and she loved me.

At first, it was hard for me and I missed Ukraine a lot. But then gradually I met many friends, and everything changed. I didn’t think it was possible to love someone like me, but now I have family and friends. I am happy.

Story of Zhanna and Denys

My name is Zhanna and I am raising my son Denys, who has autism. I also have an older daughter who is neurotypical, so I have seen the difference in their development since she was a baby. He didn’t look me in the eye, didn’t respond to my name, didn’t talk. And then he took off – he still didn’t respond to the name, didn’t engage in dialogue, didn’t follow instructions, but poems, songs, fairy tales just poured out, this stream of speech was impossible to stop.

“We spent the first year and a half of the full-scale invasion in the village. There, Denys was relatively safe, but he had minimal communication with people. We returned to Kharkiv in October 2023. Denys loves the city – the trams, the subway, walking the streets, the waterfront. And he is very saddened by the destruction. Now, when he sees destroyed houses, he says with my tone of voice, “Yes, son, they bombed it.” And so many times. 

When I started looking for places where we could go with him, I was worried about my son. How would he feel and behave in the new environment? But everything went great. He became part of the community. A part of society. I am very glad that we came to Emmaus. It gives me hope.