Hanna Migal, Mariupol General Education School No. 34, Mariupol, Donetsk region
In the "One Day" essay competition, her work took 2nd place.
Teacher - Marina Serkutan
The year 2014. The beginning of summer, which little seven-year-old Anya was looking forward to hoping to spend more time with her family. She does not yet know that in the warmest month of summer, July, an adult life began for the little heart.
‘Anya, let’s get ready! We are going to the seaside!’ her parents say.
Hoping for a wonderful vacation in a city where she had never been before, and in anticipation of new stories, which she would then tell her grandmother the way that only she can, the little girl looked in surprise at the long rows of cars whose drivers were waiting for document check in order to drive on. And then the long way reached the end: the sign “Mariupol” was seen through a car window.
Immediately upon arrival, they rented an apartment, which from the beginning became a comma between the old life in her hometown and the new one, which Anya did not want at all; there was like a metal wall for her that she would never be able to break, and which she was so afraid of…
‘Dad, when are you going to come?’ Anya asked by phone every week. She missed him and her hometown so much. She missed her grandma and grandpa, her friends and the best weekends. It seemed that a little more time would pass and she and her mother would return home.
The end of August.
‘No, mum, no!’ Anya cried, looking for consolation in her mother’s hugging, ‘I do not want!’
‘Sweetie, unfortunately, we have no other option,’ her mother tried to calm her down.
The transfer to a new school was the girl’s biggest fear. Thoughts crept into her soul that she would not see her friends, and would not walk with them after school. And what if her new classmates do not accept her or make fun of her poor eyesight? No, no, no! She was in pain, scared and sad. There was a complete misunderstanding why everything was developing in such a strange way? What will happen next?
‘Hello, Tanya, hello! I cannot hear you!’ mother shouted into the phone and kept asking, ‘Planes? Balcony? Are you alive?!’
Mum could not reach her friend by the phone for the third day in a row. No, nothing will ever be the same as before. The girl has to get used to a new life when her heart longed for what she left behind in her native Horlivka and Donetsk. And then two wars began for her and her family. One of them was a war with memories and fear of the future.
During some time, the girl with a bright hope for good news was able to ask her mother about her past school. The little girl thought that all those she knew continued to attend that school, but most of them also moved away to start a new life, the same as she did, and most likely will not remember her… Maybe it is for the better?
Passing by people, she realized that among them there were people like her – those who are called “IDPs” and who did not understand what to do next. She understood that there were “IDPs” in other cities too, and no one would return their past to them. All you have is a new life, where you have to be reborn yourself, have to gather yourself by pieces and wait for what will happen next.
All people are different in nature. Every person can always be surprised in a good or bad sense. People are amazing. Every person has a different vision of something in this both wonderful and evil world.
And what does peace mean for everyone? And what is peace for evil or good people? And for children? What if adults can “see” everything in the same way, or do not want to “see” at all?! And what does peace mean for our main character, who is already 14 years old? Peace for her remained in her childhood, which she spent in her hometown near her family.
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