We have provided the girls with both individual and group counselling, we took them on a tour of Poznań, where we told them about the city and about Poland, we guided them through the complicated Polish law and tax system, we helped them to start their own business, and, finally, we invited them to a photo session. „It was the first time that I felt like a woman since the war began” – these words, said by one of the girls, are the essence of this project. But we wanted not only to separate them from the war trauma and the feeling of isolation, but, above all, to show that these aren’t just some anonymous people. They all have their own story and their own past. They aren’t refugees or exiles, but our neighbors: from a neighboring country, city, street, from the apartment next to ours.
The project of AITWAR foundation „How to find yourself HERE”, whose aim was to help the Ukrainian women to become more active professionally and socially, was financed by the City of Poznań from the funds donated by the nation and government of Taiwan.
These are our heroes:
Yelizaveta completed her first year of studies of clinical psychology when she was seventeen. She loves to read, is painstakingly thorough and has perfect memory. She came to Poland with her mother to be safe, and to earn money for the family that has stayed in her beloved place – Ukraine.
She is our neighbor.