No easy decision

We are in a small cellar of an ugly, gray apartment in Zaporozhe, Eastern Ukraine. It is only a two-hour drive from where the fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists, unabatedly, continues daily. About sixty people from the local Jewish population have gathered for their monthly meeting. I’m sitting next to a girl of about eight years old. I say to her: “My name is Sara, what is your name?”

I am pleased to hear that she speaks some English, and replies with a big smile: “My name is also Sara”. Her mother and grandmother sit to the left of her. Her mother helps her with the English sentences now and then. Sara is obviously proud of being able to converse with me. I think she’s very brave, and I smile encouragingly at her. “I’m leaving for Israel soon”, she tells me. Her mother adds: “It is unsafe in Ukraine, and we will be leaving in two months from now.”

Lengthy stories form the background of every decision to leave for Israel. Sara’s grandma bursts into tears when I ask her about life at present. “Difficult”, she replies. “Very difficult.” A long story, told in Russian, follows. Now and then I understand some of the words: no work, difficulties, family, war. I realize that it must be a difficult decision to leave the country where you are born and raised. A country ruined by a civil war, and the only country you know. They are on their way to an entirely unknown destination. What a lot of courage!

Sara is an open and communicative person and she knows what she wants. I am sure she will make it in Israel! Anyway, that is what I hope and pray for.

Sara van Oordt, Christians for Israel Netherlands

Photo credit: Henk Visscher, Reformatorisch Dagblad, The Netherlands.

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