From celebrating the 117th anniversary of Rotary International in Kiev with friends to going into shock within a matter of hours. At 4:30am on February 24th, when the Russians began bombing the Ukrainian capital, Alla Sokol just wondered what was going on because she didn’t understand anything. “The day before, everything was normal, we were celebrating and suddenly everyone was writing to me to ask if I was okay”, she says from Ibiza.
She arrived three weeks ago after leaving her hometown. The first five days of the Russian invasion in her country she hid in the basement of her building until she decided to go to the Romanian border, which she crossed on foot, and there she contacted members of Rotary [she had been president in Kiev], who helped her reach Bucharest and then landed in Ibiza.
Her daughter Dona Perevalska lives between the island and Paris. She works in the French capital, but she loves to spend the winter in Ibiza. She admits that on that fateful February 24th she was barely able to talk to her mother because the situation was chaotic. “At the beginning of the month I had been there and I would never have imagined that in just two weeks everything would change,” she says. “We already experienced this eight years ago, during the war in eastern Ukraine, and I was volunteering to help in Donetsk. I never imagined this again, in the year we are in, and so many people having to flee,” she adds.
The mother and daughter’s spirit of solidarity has led them to contact the Ibiza Rotary Club. The organization has been working for weeks to help the Ukrainians; they are in permanent contact with Rotarians in Romania, where they have established an infrastructure to support the refugees who use the country as an escape route. As the acting president, Denise Klischan, and the secretary, Laia Serra, explain, the organisation collaborates in humanitarian projects and always does so materially, although “now it is easier to do so financially and to support other Rotarians”.
In fact, in just 72 hours, they have raised more than 5,600 euros , which will be used mainly for the purchase of ecological toilets to be installed in the basements of homes in Kiev. This is a project that the Romanian club is carrying out and in which they want to collaborate. “The motto of the organisation is to serve humanity and our intention is to try to make this world a better place for everyone,” Klischan stresses.
She reiterates that any help is welcome at such a turbulent time like the present. In fact, Perevalska regrets that no one there can feel safe despite the fact that all the buildings have underground shelters, including the subway. “You have to learn to live with the sound of sirens and that’s terrible”, she laments. There is even a mobile application that warns of air raids: next to the exact time a circle appears. If it is green, that means they can leave the basement, but if it is red there is danger because they are bombing. “I was looking at the app constantly to know when I could get out,” says Sokol.
Situation in Kiev
The rest of her family and friends are still there and are updating her on the situation. “They don’t want to leave. In the case of my grandparents it is because they are very patriotic. They have been there all their lives, without moving, and now they don’t want to move either,” explains the young woman. Her mother did. She left her home, which for now she says is still standing, with a small suitcase in which she saved what she could from her 54 years in Kiev.
She is a jewelry designer and brought some of her pieces to the island. Sokol says it’s the work she knows how to do and now she’s left with nothing. She talks about starting to “build” a new life outside her country, but insists she will return when conditions allow. For the time being, she is trying to learn Spanish and is dedicated to helping all those people who do not know what they have to do after fleeing Ukraine. “I love the island, this is a paradise, but I have the limitation of the language because I don’t speak English very well either. I dream of being able to go back to Kiev,” she says.
Her daughter understands that she wants to return home, but reiterates that this will not happen until it is one hundred percent safe. “I don’t know anyone who has fled who doesn’t say they want to return as soon as possible”, she says. It’s hard to even imagine while she explains. The lives of millions of people have changed radically and they don’t even know if they will ever be able to return to the normality they had.
Ibiza Rotary Club
All four agree that Rotary has changed their lives. Without going any further, with the current situation in Ukraine, Sokol recognizes that “coming to Ibiza has been much easier thanks to the collaboration between Rotarians from different countries. There are more than 35,000 clubs in more than 220 countries.
In the case of Ibiza, the organization, which was founded in 1985, currently has 23 members. Since then they have carried out different projects to improve the living conditions of people living on the island. During the pandemic they bought tablets that they donated to the Can Misses Hospital so that patients could see their relatives; a few years ago they rebuilt a cistern on a farm owned by Cáritas to hold workshops with users; they installed a pergola in the Psychiatric Ward of the Health Area; they carried out a project with an educational centre… And these are just some examples of their work. For this reason, they encourage all those who want to help to join their movement. “With desire and enthusiasm everyone is welcome”, they say.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.