Eva Ruiz I Sevilla, (EFE).- Roman Zaiachkiuskyi is 21 years old, severely visually impaired and has a lot of love for the guitar. This is how it was in his native Lutsk and this is how it continues ten months after fleeing the war in Ukraine and arriving in Spain, where he has just learned to interpret the anthem of Andalusia, his host land.
“I have dedicated five days to it,” he explained before the journalists’ microphones after his applauded version at the San Telmo Palace, seat of the Board’s presidency, during the presentation to the media of the coupon that the National Organization for the Blind ( ONCE) dedicated to Andalusia on the occasion of 28F, community day.
A little overwhelmed in front of the cameras, Roman shows his gratitude to the Andalusians for their welcome in the Spanish that he has learned to speak during this time with his grandmother María, who has been in Spain for more than 20 years and with whom he has lived in Malaga since his birth. arrival.
Despite this, I had never practiced this language before. “I had never thought that I would live in Spain and it has been a very good surprise, because everything is very interesting and the people are very open,” she confesses.
Two months as an ONCE seller
The young man arrived with his parents, both blind, and his little sister, with whom he crossed the Polish border to find a businessman from Jerez de la Frontera who had crossed Europe in his car with another volunteer friend to bring some refugee family.
At first, and after an emotional reunion with the grandmother, they all stayed in a hotel, but the parents immediately decided that their place was in their country and they returned to Ukraine with their young daughter. Roman stayed and through the National Commission for Refugee Assistance he came into contact with ONCE.
“I am very grateful for your help, I didn’t know they existed before and for me it’s incredible because there is work, there is integration and many people who want to help,” he says two months after becoming a salesperson for the organization and before performing the anthem from Andalusia.
Since his arrival he has received rehabilitation and typhlotechnology services from it and has continued his guitar training with Professor Sergio Molido, winner of the ONCE Bienal Flamenca, who from the beginning saw in Roman some exceptional faculties and gave him introduced him to the world of soleás and bulerías, totally new for him.
Making your way in the classical world
The young man began studying guitar at the age of 11. After doing the Baccalaureate specializing in this instrument, in the last year he had accessed a higher cycle at the Conservatory and had even begun to teach children and already had 14 students.
His intention was to continue higher education to make his way in the classical world.
One of his main sorrows after leaving his city, his friends and his classes behind was also leaving without his guitar, because it didn’t fit in the car. It was his grandmother who, with the money saved for months, was finally able to buy him a new guitar that would allow him to continue with what is his passion.
Now his goal is to “grow as a guitarist”. “In Spain the guitar level is very high”, he assures, which is why he is now preparing to obtain a place at the Conservatorio Superior de Málaga next May.
Until then, he continues, via the internet, with his classical music studies at the National Academy of Music in the Ukrainian city of Livl. EFE
