Hi, my name is Daria Martsinovska. I have a family in Ukraine that is currently evacuated in Poland and now wants to get back home. They have no car or home to go back to, so they need help. The mother, Valentyna, and her four kids (ages 3-16) have been living without their father who is on the front lines. Please consider helping them. Any money received here will be sent to them directly. Here is their story which has been translated directly into English:

Hello Ms Daria. I understand our history is similar to that of many others. We lived happily in the suburbs of Kiev, planned our future lives, future kids, and planned Agnes's birthday (February 26). There were supposed to be a lot of our close friends, however, when her godmother called on the 24th of February at 5:00am, everything changed. Ever since then, we have been living in fear for our future. For the next few days, I felt as though I was in a fog. My kids were crying, we couldn't sleep, and everyone was afraid. We decided to go to stay with our friends in Khmelnytskyi, which is west of Kiev. We stayed there for two days, and on the 26th we felt overwhelmed with everything. We thought, "why us?" At the same time, my husband, Taras, decided to return home and fight for our country. I felt that I could not stay in Khmelnytski without him. Despite his protests, we decided to go back to Kiev with him together. The kids were quiet on the trip back as we planned how their father would go to fight, while the kids and I would help the soldiers. I thought that I could bake bread, my daughter, Veronica, wanted to organize with her classmates to make nets, and my son, Dmitri, planned to feed animals left behind by people. However, the closer we got to our home, the scarier it got. The sky over our town was black and there was fighting close by. Authorities didn't allow us on the main road, so we had to go through side roads. We knew we had to make it before the curfew. Thankfully, people let us through all the roadblocks, and we eventually returned home. I immediately went downstairs to the basement and covered the walls with blankets, brought water down, grabbed a flashlight, and covered the windows. We felt fear in all of our senses, even taste. It was a metallic and disgusting flavor. Every hour was spent fearfully and quietly, with our kids even being scared to bathe. It was constantly dark in the building, and the shelling was getting closer and closer each day. Our fear only grew as the days went on, and the danger grew nearer. We learned how to very quickly get into the basement. I will never forget the tears of my children or the fear, and it breaks my heart every time I think about it. At that same time, their dad was already enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Збройні сили України), and he was already attending the rotation. One day he arrived home and said that we needed to leave to protect and save our children, however, I did not want to leave him. I cried but understood it was necessary. On the morning of March 3, we left for the train station in Kiev. There were many women and children in tears all around us. When it was time to go on the trains, so many fearful people crammed into the train cars. We comforted tearful children and tried our hardest to enter the train. This was an evacuation train to Solotvyno, a city in western Ukraine. We were unable to enter the train and wanted to wait for the next one, despite the understanding that it would be the same situation with tons of people. However, maybe because God felt our fear, the doors opened again and the conductor asked if we were going with them. I told him that I was going with my 4 children, and he let us in. I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to Taras when the doors closed. Once in the train car, there was nowhere to sit with everyone finding whatever space they could. The trip was very difficult, and my youngest daughter remained in my arms in fear. My two oldest kids stayed at the front of the train, while my younger kids and I younger kids were in the back. Because of the risk of air strikes, we made many stops. As a result, the trip to Lviv took 14 hours. My oldest kids sat next to a bathroom, and my youngest son was next to me in the corridor between train cars. I stood for a majority of the trip with my daughter in my arms. To say that this trip was hard is an understatement, however we still had a long road ahead of us. I almost fell from exhaustion, and my kids and many others were crying. We finally arrived in Lviv and were met by our relatives. They drove us and finally allowed us some time to rest and wash up. During this time, Taras had already gone with others to the barracks to train. Our journey continued on. On the evening of March 6, my cousin in law, Oksana, and her husband drove us to the bus station so we could get to Poland. However, once the bus arrived we were unable to sit down and we remained standing for a few hours. Eventually, we decided that they would drive us in their car. Half-way through the journey we were stopped, and we weren't allowed to continue driving because of a long line. We were put onto a bus that drove us a few kilometers from the border. At 1:00am, we were dropped off and had to walk the rest of the way. Once again, I held my youngest daughter in my arms for the trip. It was freezing, and my kids could hardly walk from exhaustion. I could not feel my hands or my legs. At 4:00am, we finally crossed the border into Poland, but we had to stand in an extremely long line for buses taking people to stations. This was similar to our wait for the train and the bus. However, at 6:00am, we were able to get on a bus. There was nowhere to sit, so we slept standing up.

Once we arrived in Przemyśl we were panicked with questions of where to go and what to do now. The good people around us told us to go to Wrocław and that we would be safe there. For a few more hours, we walked around the bus station asking how to get to our destination. However, nobody knew anything and we were again left with stress, fear, panic, tears, and hopelessness. I felt anger towards Taras as well for not coming with us. He could have stayed with us. Thankfully, one kind volunteer woman who probably saw our desperate situation was able to get us on a train to Przemyśl. Thank you to her. Once on the train, our situation became easier as we were able to rest. However, fear for Taras never left us as large battles were happening around our town. My kid's father was in that hell. He only had a few days of training with no experience, but he still is desperately trying to defend our country.

I cannot write that we are living well here, because I would be lying. The older kids have learned how to hide their feelings about missing their father, however, the younger kids have not. Agnes cries and asks for her dad, and when she sees other kids walking and playing with their dads she cries. All she wants is to go home and see her dad. I try not to show my emotions to my kids. We all miss home because, even though we are safe here, being safe in your own home is always better. Looking at the war situation near our home, we would be able to go back there. The Russian forces have been pushed out of our town, and the kids have to get back to school. Dmitri will start 3rd grade, Veronica will start college, Yan will go to 6th grade, and Agnes will go to preschool. We really want to hug Taras because this long of us being apart has been scary and difficult. He also misses us, even though he tries not to show it. When he calls us, there will sometimes be a tear in his eyes when the kids tell him they miss and love him.