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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: MOLDOVA SECURITY: Ukraine Refugees (TV)
HEADLINE: Ukrainians Connected by Language, Culture, Call Moldova Their New Home
TEASER:
PUBLISHED: 12/14/2023 at 9am
BYLINE: Carla Babb
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Chisinau, Moldova
VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricardo Marquina
VIDEO EDITOR:
ASSIGNING EDITOR: Aru Pande
SCRIPT EDITORS: Aru Pande, Reifenrath DJ (OK)
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV __ RADIO __
TRT: 4:09
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVR
EDITOR NOTES: This is part 5 of Carla Babb’s 5-part series on Moldova security.))
((ANCHOR))
[[Imagine your home was invaded, and you had to flee for your life. Where would you go? For many Ukrainian refugees living in Moldova, their answer was “somewhere like home.” As VOA’s Carla Babb reports from the capital, Chisinau, the country once thought of as a place like home is now considered by many as their new home.]]
((Olena Prysiazhniuk, Ukrainian Refugee (female, English)))
“Maybe it was some plan by God. I don’t know what happened, but we fell in love with Moldova.”
((NARRATOR))
Olena Prysiazhniuk fled Ukraine with her parents and daughters the first day of the war, leaving behind almost everything they owned to resettle in neighboring Moldova.
((Olena Prysiazhniuk, Ukrainian Refugee (female, English)))
“And I started to buy one by one, one spoon, one cup, one something else. And after that, I tried to organize some space that my kids will come for home.”
((NARRATOR))
Prysiazhniuk says she decided to settle in Chisinau because of the friendly people and shared culture. Although Romanian is Moldova’s official language, many here also speak Russian, and...
((Olena Prysiazhniuk, Ukrainian Refugee (female, English)))
“Ukrainian language is everywhere, because the second population in Moldova is Ukrainian.”
((NARRATOR))
It is not hard to find Ukrainian culture on full display at festivals and concerts in the heart of the Moldovan capital.
One hundred seventy thousand Ukrainians lived in Moldova before the war, and 100,000 more Ukrainian refugees now take shelter here from the war raging next door.
[[radio: Dmytro Lakartsev, the head of the national Congress of Ukrainians in Moldova, says the Ukrainian refugees need to be integrated, but of course, their heart and soul are with Ukraine. And of course, he adds, they want to hear their mother language and feel the culture, so events like this help them feel at home]]
((Dmytro Lekartsev, National Congress of Ukrainians in Moldova (male, Ukrainian)))
“They need to be integrated, but of course, their heart and soul are with Ukraine, and of course, they want to hear their mother language and feel the culture. So, events like this help them feel at home.”
((NARRATOR))
Ukrainian advocates like Dmytro Lekartsev credit Moldova’s government for creating favorable conditions for Ukrainian refugees to become a part of Moldovan society, including access to jobs, housing and education.
((Kent Logsdon, US Ambassador to Moldova))
"The Moldovans were amazing. They coined this a small country with a big heart, and it's absolutely true."
((NARRATOR))
U.S. Ambassador Kent Logsdon said when Russia invaded Ukraine, he saw Moldovans from all over the country rush to provide Ukrainians with food, transportation, and basically anything that could help.
((Kent Logsdon, US Ambassador to Moldova))
“Even today, 95% of that 100,000 number of refugees are mostly housed privately. They're in apartments, they're still staying with some families — some families who took a family in still have them there. And so, what the international community now is doing is trying to help the republic of Moldova and integrating these people. They're going to be here for a while.”
((NARRATOR))
The U.N. Refugee Agency estimated that Moldova needed $427 million this year to support its Ukrainian refugee population. But UNHCR and other aid agencies have only received half of that from international donors.
((NARRATOR))
Olena Prysiazhniuk is now working three jobs to provide for her family. Her main job is with a British NGO called “Hope 4.” She helps Moldovans distribute aid and provides counseling to other Ukrainian refugees.
((Olena Prysiazhniuk, Ukrainian Refugee))
"I feel like I need to give back."
((NARRATOR))
Her daughters have settled into a Russian-speaking school. Tania plays drums, Sophia prefers guitar, and they’re learning to speak Romanian.
((Tania, Ukranian Refugee (female, Ukrainian)))
“The people are so nice, and they’re helping us a lot."
((Sophia, Ukrainian Refugee (female, Ukranian)))
"Even today on the trolley, I forgot my ride pass, and some lady paid for my ticket. People are really nice here, and we’re thankful for that.”
((NARRATOR))
Prysiazhniuk has made two-day trips back to her home in Ukraine to recover the family’s most treasured belongings.
((Olena Prysiazhniuk, Ukrainian Refugee))
“It was not money. Not clothes. No. Not other stuff. No. Just one bag with small letters, pictures, photos.”
((NARRATOR))
But, she’s decided, she won’t ever go back to live there again.
((Olena Prysiazhniuk, Ukrainian Refugee))
"It's not important where you're living. The most important is what you're doing for your country. // And I'm proud to say that I have two homes now, in Ukraine and in Moldova, because my heart is with Ukraine and with Moldova the same.”
((NARRATOR))
She and her girls keep “dream journals” to stay focused on their goals in their new home. They share pictures and notes about places they want to see and things they want to do, as they pen this new chapter in their lives.
((CARLA BABB, VOA NEWS CHISINAU, MOLDOVA))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateDecember 14, 2023 09:40 EST
BylineCarla Babb
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English, US Agency for Global Media
