Finding Refuge in Singing for Peace

Humenné, Slovakia 

I’ll take my mother’s towel and spread it like fate 

In the silence of the rustling of grasses, the chirping of oak trees, 

And all dear memories will come to life on this towel, 

And childhood, and separation, and true love. 

Sounds of a beautiful female voice can be heard across the hall of the Reception Center of the Migration Office in Humenné, Eastern Slovakia, 50 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. One of its residents, Albina, 77, is knitting and sets the rhythm by singing a Ukrainian folk song, Rushnichok (“Towel”), about longing for home.  

She falls into memories of her youth in Kramatorsk, an industrial city in Donetsk Oblast, and about her husband, whom she lost 13 years ago.

 

“I lived like many other people. I got married, my husband and I loved each other. We had two children. I was working at the factory. I was singing. It was a simple but happy life.” 

 

Singing has been her passion since childhood. At the factory this talent was noticed, and she was invited to perform in factory concerts. Now the hobby helps Albina deal with the stressful situation of being away from her motherland.  

 

She and her family – her daughter Viktoriia, son-in-law Viktor and grandson Yevhen – fled from Ukraine to Slovakia in March, first to emergency accommodation, then in May moving to Humenné Reception centre where the family remains.  They are one family of over 90,000 people who have received Temporary Protection in the country. “We are very grateful to Slovakia for refuge, for receiving us. We have a place to live, we have food. What is most important is that here we live in peace and safety,” says Albina.  

Reflecting on the impact of the war on her generation, Albina says,

 

“For people of my age it is a big psychological trauma to lose their home and even more. Our whole life has been taken away. We see only ashes left from the places where we lived. It is painful to think about it. We don’t know how to go on…”  

 

With only a limited pension from Ukraine to sustain her and her family, Albina is one of 30,000 Ukrainian refugees supported by UNHCR with emergency cash assistance in Slovakia during their first months of displacement, helping her buy medicines and other essential supplies. UNHCR sent mobile teams to register people across the country like Albina, who had difficulties in reaching cash assistance registration points. As the conflict continues, the Government of Slovakia has now included those receiving interim support from UNHCR and other agencies into longer term social programs, following national legislation procedures. 

Albina looks out her window, where a sunny autumn day is coming to an end, and pensively says “I love life, I want to live, that’s why I don’t allow myself to get into depression, I don’t want my soul to get stale. The morning will come, a new day will come, and this is good. Everything will be good.” 

These days Albina sometimes sings for her family, friends, and neighbors to raise their spirits. “What do I think about when I sing? About home maybe. But I always think about home. When I sing, I also think about love of all people, about peace, about hoping for the war to stop soon.”