Zlata Druzhinina, together with her daughter and husband, came to Georgia from the city of Nikopol, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, in August 2022.

Currently, she is unemployed and takes care of her 13-year-old daughter, Angelina, who has had epilepsy since birth.

We will introduce Zlata and her family through a photo story prepared within the framework of the UN Joint Programme “Mainstreaming a disability-inclusive humanitarian response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis."

Zlata has been involved in the focus group/survey within this very programme. She also participated in the information meeting on violence against gender-based violence. 

I have known my husband since 2009. We had been married for a year when we had our child. Seizures started soon after she was born, that was when we consulted a doctor. She was one year old when she was diagnosed with epilepsy. We have been struggling ever since. We spent most of the time in hospitals when she was a child.

Angelina likes drawing, singing, and is a creative person.

She also goes to school every day, but not full time; she attends some classes, drawing, among others, to spend time with other children. She also takes drawing classes at weekends.

Now it seems that we have at last started to live an active life, we used to try to live, but we did not use to go anywhere except to the psychologist.

You need to go through a lot of things to make them understand and confirm the status of your child.

You need to be in constant contact with a neurologist, a speech therapist, a rehabilitation specialist, a tutor - to deal with this situation calmly. All this is related to finances.

In general, we have got used to being here. However, we still face certain medical challenges.

We need to find a specialist to monitor her health condition.

Having some rehabilitation therapy sessions, massages, would be desirable, although all this requires finances.

In Ukraine, we used to have a family doctor, we received some services such as tests and consultations for free.

When we stayed here with our relatives in 2015, she was prescribed some medication in one of the clinics and they were effective to a certain extent. Now, we go for check-ups once every 2 or 3 months.

Angelina can move on her own, but specialists help her to manage her behaviour. I am very glad that we found the right doctors here.

I devote all my time to my daughter, my dog, some household chores, in addition we do homework together and go shopping.

My usual day is like this: I get up, take my daughter to school, wait for her, take the bus back home, we have lunch, and in the evening, I take out our dog. We also watch movies and listen to music together on Saturdays. In our free time, we walk in the city, visit interesting places.

Angelina also likes attending prayers – and there is a church near the place where we live; we go to visit some friends from time to time. We read books.

I see some progress, with the intervention with medicines and therapy, it is also important for her to socialize with children, to draw.

She needs to socialize. Well, we shouldn’t be there… just the two of us, when all the kids are at school.

I found the school on the Internet. I would consider any option and visited so many schools. When you don't know the language, it's difficult (now I'm learning Georgian). There were cases when we were either refused or offered inadequate conditions. The main thing for us was socialization; we didn't want her to be separated from other children. I finally found the one which suited us.

She says “I don’t want to” quite often, just like other children do. She had to get used to what to do and when and had to start all over again. During the first month, I sat next to her, helping her, but she didn't want to do anything, then she got used to it. The school helped us to solve some of our problems. She doesn't have friends yet, but she communicates with her peers, greets them, they ask each other questions, which gives an incentive to her.

In Ukraine, we went to school three times a week. We stayed alert all the time, but no one told us what specialist we needed, we visited a psychologist and a speech therapist, but no one told us that a neuropsychologist was the specialist that was required in her case. You should always do everything yourself. In all countries, the initiative comes from parents; they know what is best for their child and plan their regimen together with doctors.

I would advise the parents [of children with disability] not to give up.

Never give up, no one can take care of your child but you. Don't get frustrated, don't say that everything is over, keep moving forward, look for a way to help them; well, no one will be able to help you if you don't act.

I have a friend who is from Ukraine from the same city as me. We met each other here. Her child has the same problem as mine. She is older than me and knows a lot; I learn a lot from her, and this is a great moral support. We share our experiences with each other. In such a situation, it is necessary to get the right information. Information is lifesaving; if you don't know anything - you can't help anyone.

Most likely, when the war is over, we will stay here. We don’t have clear plans about the future.

I believe Ukraine will win, but the situation in the place we lived before the war is difficult. The house we lived in is still there, but it is being bombed every day.

My uncle lives in Russia, and he was the one who informed us that Ukraine was being bombed. We were scared. It was so stressful; we couldn't think clearly for the first three days. There was a continuous sound of air raid sirens. there was no light, and it was dark in the evenings.

When the war started, the most important thing was to buy medicines for my daughter. Everything stopped functioning because of the war. No one had an idea of how we would live.

We left Ukraine five days later. It took us a week to arrive in Georgia.

People in Georgia are nice, they know languages, they are ready to help us. We had been here before, in 2015, we stayed here for a month, and we know what the people are like here.

About the programme

The joint UN programme "Mainstreaming a disability inclusive humanitarian response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis" is being implemented by five agencies of the United Nations (UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, UN Women, OHCHR) in 2023. The programme is being implemented with the support of the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD Multi-Partnership Trust Fund).

The aim of the programme is to support the implementation of Article 11 of the Convention on Persons with Disabilities, according to which: "States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), other participating UN agencies and donor organizations.