a Lovestory

Pascale Vayer, chairwoman of the association kleine herzen

This story begins on March 26, when 63 small children were evacuated to Austria from the Krepivnitsky orphanage in Ukraine. Since then the war has been in full swing. The deaths of innocent civilians, innocent children, shake and hurt me deep in my heart and soul. But the war for me is just news that I read in the press every day. I am lucky to live in a peaceful country, not afraid of the next day, not afraid of hunger and cold.

Kirilo has since passed away. Kirilo was a child in the palliative phase and we were all deeply touched by his death. And then Ivan left us in August because his adoptive parents picked him up. Ivan was adopted before the war broke out. Now there are 61 children.

Since March 26th I have been experiencing a love story. The small Ukrainian children have become my children. I see them growing up, blossoming under the almost always blue sky of Burgenland.

As soon as my little Svetlana sees me, she runs towards me with her small, still unstable legs of a two-year-old. My heart begins to beat with indescribable joy. And then come Milana, Stanislav, Angelina, Oleg, Olga, Sergey, Maksim, Katya, Masha, Diana and if I could, I would carry them all in my arms.

Many of them learned to walk here. Are you happy. I see them growing and blossoming every day and I'm happy.

Artur smiles at me when I stroke his soft face. Artur was born with a severe disability and cannot sit.

dr Svehlik, a very kind doctor at the Graz hospital, does his best to improve Artur's health, but also that of Sasha, Viktor and Timofiy, so that one day these children can lead a decent life despite their disabilities.

My world is the world of my 61 children and we share the happiness of being together without thinking about tomorrow. My emotions race when I think that they should live in peace at home in Ukraine.

My daily happiness starts at 7am. Matei, Illia, Angelika, Veronika, Maksim, Denis, Anna and Viktoria give me their big smiles and happily say good morning to me before they get on the bus that takes them to the kindergarten.

My little ones have breakfast at 8 a.m. They are hungry and show it by expressing themselves with gestures and sounds. You have to hurry, because hunger does not wait.

At 9am there is a daily meeting to organize the day. We are many, more than 115 souls. Not a day goes by without a visit to the doctor.

And then comes the time for hugs, tender kisses and the distribution of cakes and sweets. The little legs run towards me and I hear a “qua” or a “pa”. They call me. At the age of two it is still impossible to pronounce “Pascale”. Everything I was doing became secondary and her presence became my universe of 63 tiny twinkling stars.

Since August every child has had a godmother from Europe, “a Tetya or a Dyadya”. Parcels with clothes, toys and sweets arrive daily. For the first time in her life, a package is addressed to her personally. Her surprise is great and her joy contagious.