We endured low temperatures with snow and rain for two months while sheltering outdoors. For sustenance, we drank water from the puddles and tried to melt snow in the sun; we hardly ate, as the meager food provided was terrible in quality.
I finance my music through any extra made through selling handicrafts, and hard work in the fields when I have to. I have taken up a machete and a hoe, and I have also been a coffee picker. I do whatever it takes to pursue my dream.
I feared being bombed and couldn’t sleep all night. I kept drifting off sitting in a chair, then shooting back awake. While my dad slept, I stayed up so if sirens went off, one of us would hear it.
I huddled in the sewer for four hours, surrounded by dirt and stench, flies biting me all over. I knew the Taliban men had come to kill me.
As we fled, I harnessed my adrenaline and continued to alert the world to my experiences and fundraise to aid other Africans trying to escape Ukraine. I created threads documenting the ordeal and resources to help refugees and fact-check information being shared about the war.
They had murdered hundreds of thousands of people, cutting them into pieces with machetes. I was surrounded by soldiers and my fate seemed sealed, but I prayed to God to help me.
We have endured many days eating only lentils and rice. To evade the cold, we sleep piled up, like pigs, under plastic. The children often wake up crying.
I basically woke up to the war. I woke up to hell. The memory of that morning, of hearing about all of the missile strikes and explosions all over Ukraine, is burned into my brain. I have never been so scared.
College student and Orato journalist Yuliia Rudenko details 18 days in war zone
I do not hear the noises of war anymore. It's finally starting to sink in that I'm safe in South Africa. I no longer have to fear the turmoil in Ukraine and the racism that made it harder for me to leave.
All this time, I was calm. I heard no shelling, only Andrii’s moans, and saw nothing but his eyes. I did what I was supposed to, in accordance with all the instructions I learned during my training. But when I closed the door of the car, I took out a cigarette and felt a shiver run down my body. My hands started to shake, and I burst out crying.
I was imprisoned during the peace process, and the truth was I didn't think it was possible. But today I am convinced that peace is a daily exercise, built day by day.