She had left Ukraine with her children immediately after the war started and looked for safety in Germany. I had known her since that time. She had gone through difficult times because her husband had separated from her - far away from her. She had been back home for a short time during the summer holidays for the first time since arriving in Germany. Now we met rather casually in the city. I asked how things were going? She began to talk. About the children's school, about her work, about her son's time in hospital and then she looked at me for a long time and said: ‘You know, I went through the hardest moments in my home country. I was looking forward to being there with the children. But when the little ones kept hearing the drones at night and seeing all the destruction, they said: ‘Mum, we want to go back home!' Her eyes filled with tears. She was home and for her children, for whom she had given so much, it was no longer their home. How many times might she have shed hidden tears about this at night? ‘Thank you for letting me tell you all this. It feels so good!’
