Rebecca Palacios
Logroño, (EFE).- Finding a job with which to normalize their lives is the daily goal of Svitlana Goncharova and Svitlana Shulga, two Ukrainian refugees settled in La Rioja, who look to their country with the hope that the war will end for them. return to embrace their relatives.
In an interview with EFE, these two Ukrainians have reviewed how the last ten months have passed, since they arrived in Spain in April 2022 on a bus chartered by the Riojan NGO Coopera.
In addition to sharing a name and apartment in Fuenmayor (La Rioja), both are learning Spanish and have obtained a food handler’s card to be able to work in the hospitality industry, but the lack of validation of their studies in Ukraine and full command of the language prevents them from finding a job.
Goncharova, 52, arrived with her 16-year-old daughter Yulia, while her husband had to stay in their city, Slavyansk, to work on rebuilding infrastructure; as well as her other son to take care of their own children, which has saved both of them from having to fight at the front.
A nurse with 32 years of experience, the last ones in a covid hospital in her country, she cannot work in Spain in the health field and she does not even have the possibility of finding a position as a caregiver for the elderly, because they require a Baccalaureate degree, that you cannot apply for in your country.
Her daughter Yulia, who has learned Spanish very quickly, is studying fourth grade at the Fuenmayor institute with very good grades, for which her teachers encourage her to continue with the Baccalaureate next year, she has proudly recounted.
Her compatriot Shulga, a 37-year-old single, is a decorator and interior designer with a degree in tourism, who also has work experience in hospitality and direct sales.
In his town, Svyatogirsk, he left his mother, who did not dare to travel to Spain because she had to take care of her 94-year-old grandmother.
A new life in La Rioja
Upon arriving in La Rioja, Goncharova began to live in Aguilar del Río Alhama and Shulga in El Rasillo, but at the beginning of last summer they both moved to live in Fuenmayor, 16 kilometers from the Rioja capital, in a borrowed apartment.
In Fuenmayor, a town with more than 3,000 inhabitants, another 14 Ukrainian refugees live and, in addition, two other families of compatriots who have settled in La Rioja for 25 years have sheltered the new neighbors.
The first months were “very difficult” emotionally for both, but the affection of the Spaniards, who received them “with an open heart”, helped them to carry on.
Goncharova has recognized that it was very difficult for her to accept that she had to leave her country and live in a place whose language she did not know and where “everything was different” from Ukraine.
Until September, Shulga could not overcome the “stress” caused by her change in life and, furthermore, the bombings reached her village, destroying the roof of her house with her grandmother inside and she had great difficulties in communicating with her family.
different future plans
Although a year has passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Goncharova has stressed that she cannot accept this situation and adapt to life in Spain, since the front is located just 29 kilometers from her city, with about 100,000 inhabitants.
“Every time I talk to my family I have a very bad time, I cry and I want to be with them. It is very hard. I just want everything to end so I can return to my country,” he assured through tears.
His partner Shulga also wants to return to Ukraine to visit her family, who live in a town of about 4,000 inhabitants, located only 20 kilometers from the city of Goncharova.
She believes that the war will not end until 2024, but later she “dreams” about settling in Spain, where she had already traveled a few years ago on vacation to Palma de Mallorca, “although life is very different from being a tourist to a refugee,” she has confirmed. .
Both are very grateful for the treatment received in Spain, where people are very hospitable and, above all, affectionate, because they spread kisses and hugs without hesitation.
In addition, the climate, the culture and the numerous festivals are other of the incentives that they have found to sweeten their time away from home, with the only desire to find a job that allows them to give normality to their days. EFE