TESTIMONY. Three weeks after leaving Ukraine, 16-year-old refugee Vika recounts her new life in France

It arises on Tuesday March 29 at the gate of the Lycée de Luynes, in the suburbs of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône). She is Vika, a 16-year-old Ukrainian girl. She fled her country and the Russian offensive in early March. For a little over three weeks, she has been welcomed with her mother in a French family. A week ago, she also resumed her education, at a local school. “French, art history…” : the school day, which started at 8 am, was very busy and made her tired.

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On March 5, Vika set foot in France for the fifth time. The teenager used to be welcomed in the Aix-en-Provence region, thanks to the association “Les Amis des enfants de la region de Rivne”, a Ukrainian city near Chernobyl. The association therefore mobilized to charter a bus which repatriated 53 children and several women that day. “Usually, it’s as a guest that I come”confided Vika to the descent of the bus. “This time I don’t know how long it will last.”

Since then, Vika has settled in well, especially in high school. “I have a lot of girlfriends and the boys are good with me”, she welcomes. She is also progressing in French. “Sometimes my classmates help me understand what the teacher is saying. Other times I manage to manage on my own.” Patrick, 78, summarizes: “Everything is going wonderfully!”

It is this retiree who welcomes him, as during his previous visits, well before the war. So it’s kinda sound “uncle” French, as the teenager says. He also took care of his final year registration. “It requires a lot of travel and appointments”, he concedes. However, he has also struggled for three weeks for Vika and her mother to obtain a residence permit, a bank account and soon social security. “Everything is falling into place!”he rejoices.

For Patrick, however, the contact is unprecedented with Valentina, Vika’s mother. “It’s the first time I’ve seen her and it’s going very well despite the difficulty of the language”, he reassures. The mother of the family was 46 years old recently. “She celebrated her birthday three days ago at home”says Patrick, slightly amused. “All the people who passed came with cakes. So we’ve been eating cakes for three days!”

If Valentina had a beautiful birthday, she nevertheless spent it far from her husband, who remained in Ukraine to fight. “She calls him several times a day. She passes it to me each time and waves to us”testifies Patrick.

In a neighboring house, Marcel and Maryse – friends of Patrick – also receive a Ukrainian family and try to offer moments of lightness. “Yesterday we went to La Ciotat, to the restaurant and they walked on the beach”, says Marcel. In the evening, the tradition is that the refugees call the relatives who remained in Ukraine. “The eyes are foggy”he breathes.

For now, these Ukrainian refugees do not benefit from accelerated language courses. Vika, she refines her French by watching series “Emily in Pariswith French translation”, laughs the teenager. Moreover, thanks to the free train, Vika and her mother are going to discover Paris this weekend. The teenager begins to dream of the “Luxembourg Garden”. In the meantime, the Ukrainian refugees start preparing the meal. On the menu: pasta with Bolognese sauce. “At noon, I made the meal. Tonight, it’s her”, details Patrick. When we wish her “bon appétit”, Vika replies in a playful tone in French: “Thanks very much !”