Faces from Ukraine: Lyubov and Yaguh
“I’m sure the garlic planted in spring has already gone to seed and grown enormous.”
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Váltás magyarraYaguh and his partner Lyubov had been living together near the Russian border in Bezruky, in the Northern outskirts of Kharkiv, for fifteen years. At the end of February, the war reached them too: the heavy fighting and bombing forced the retired couple to leave their home. In March, they were already saving their lives by fleeing to Hungary. Now they are waiting for peace in Győr, in the worker’s hostel at the industrial park, rented by Migration Aid. They want to return home – if it still exists at all.
Lyubov had been working as a seamstress since she was fifteen, until she retired a few years ago. Yaguh, an Azeri citizen, was a taxi driver. They lived in a family house with a vegetable and flower garden in Bezruky.
“I’m sure the garlic planted in spring has already gone to seed and grown enormous, maybe it’s even frostbitten by now.”
wonders the man. Understandably, their house concerns him the most. There were fights in the neighbourhood recently, and many houses have burned down. They will only learn about the fate of their home if they return. By now, not many people live there who knew them and their house well.
“If the war would be over today, we would go home today already. It’s terrible that we had to leave our entire life’s work at this age.”
the Ukrainian woman despairs. Lyubov takes insecurity very hard – she often bursts out crying, the tension overwhelms her. Every evening at eight, they go for a walk along the streets of the industrial park, and they talk about their life at home. They are speculating what might have happened to the ones who stayed and those who fled, just like them.
They say that despite the circumstances, they are OK, and they also get help – but not everything is seamless here either. As an Azerbaijani citizen, Yaguh has to prove to the authorities here that he had truly lived in Ukraine with his partner before the war, so he is also entitled to protection. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee is helping the refugee couple in settling their legal situation.