Eduard ist ein ukrainischer Junge, der seit Juli 2022 in den 11. Jahrgang unserer Schule geht, nachdem er nach Deutschland geflüchtet ist. Im Rahmen des Englischunterrichts hat er einen Teil seiner Vergangenheit und Wünsche für die Zukunft aufgeschrieben und ist damit einverstanden, dies mit uns zu teilen. Da es sich um eine persönliche, bewegende Geschichte handelt, die mit uns allen zu tun hat, wird sie hier auf der Homepage veröffentlicht.

Vielen Dank dafür, Eduard!

Carola Kreiser

Hello everyone,  
I want to tell you about myself, about my time in Ukraine and how I came here.

My name is Eduard, I am 17 years old, I am from the small town of Shostka, Ukraine. There I used to live with my mother and four cats. As a child, I went to hip-hop and performed on stage twice. And I also went to the theater group, but stopped because there was not enough time and I had problems at school. I am a kind and sociable person and energetic. I like to sing songs, to dance, and to play computer games with my friends. I've been beatboxing for four years now and I love it.

Two years ago I had a circle of eight friends. We went for a walk every time after school, went to the cinema, to the clubs, and went to the rivers. In winter we went skiing. We played games together, joked, made videos, took photos and sang songs. We were always together and we liked to spend time together.

But one day everything changed.

On the night of February 23, I went to bed with homework not done. Early in the morning a friend called me and in a trembling voice told me that the war had begun. A siren blared through the city and automatic shots were fired. I ran to wake my mother and reported that the war had begun. For two months my region was under occupation. Rockets and planes flew over my city. Drones were flying at night and the lights were turned off throughout the city.
A couple of friends from our circle left for Europe and we stopped going for walks.

On the 6th of April, my region was de-occupied and then the three of us started walking down the street again. My school lessons took place online because it was forbidden to go to school. And so I finished 11th form at school online.

On July 11, I arrived with my mother in Kyiv. There was also my friend with whom I spent time in the summer. We walked around Kyiv, took photos and talked. Anti-tank hedgehogs, roadblocks and people with machine guns were everywhere in the city. This city has changed beyond recognition.  It is sad to see the capital like this, because once I came here to walk around the beautiful places of Kyiv.

On July 12, early in the morning, my mother, my godfather and I went to the bus station. This was the day of separation and moving to another country. Mom was crying because she didn't want me to leave, I was very sad. The bus left, I drove for a very long time, it was a tiring trip.
On the Kyiv-Zhytomyr highway, I saw destroyed houses, traces of bullets in houses and fences. Broken cars and broken bridges. It was terrible and scary. We drove further and further. On our way, the organizer of the trip approached me and said that there was a possibility that they would not let me go further without a passport.  I was very nervous that I would have to go back to the city where the rocket had recently landed.

On the border to Poland, our bus stood for several hours, it was hard on my soul and I was very worried. I crossed the border "on foot", since I did not have a passport, I was very worried, but everything went well so I got on the bus and went on. We travelled through Poland at night, so I did not see all the beauties of this country. The night trip was bad, every two hours I woke up for no clear reason, most likely very worried. In the afternoon when I woke up, we were already standing on the border to Germany, everything was so unknown and I was alone, next to me were strangers. We drove on through Germany. Everything is different here: nature, architecture, air.

So I finally landed in Hanover on the 13th of July. My aunt picked me up, I had not seen her for 5 years so I was very happy to see her. We took a selfie and went home by metro. Everything is so different here, the city is completely different and not like my city in Ukraine.

I have been in Germany for 6 months now, I am learning German and go to school. There are very nice people in my class, I want to learn German in order to further communicate and achieve my dreams.

I really want the war to end as soon as possible so I can go home to see my parents and friends.

Eduard Pavlov, 11B