Two families from Ciudad Real will take in the girls until the end of the war
Perhaps the only good thing about wars is the empathic solidarity that comes from within some people. This is the case of Juan Luis Escobar and María Jesús Márquez, a married couple from Ciudad Real who did not think twice on February 25 and took their car – a Citröen – to travel to the Ukraine-Slovakia border in order to pick up three Ukrainian sisters who in previous summers spent their vacations in the city of La Mancha thanks to the “CREAN” association until these summer trips were interrupted by the pandemic.
Juan Luis and María Jesús work as orderlies in the Ciudad Real City Council, which has not put any obstacles in their way to be able to make this trip in several days. The three sisters, Liubava, Yesenia and Varya, aged 14, 12 and 11, are already with this couple. “It was worth it,” explains Juan Luis, once his goal has been fulfilled. Now it’s time to return to Ciudad Real, something they hope to do this very Saturday. “The girls are relaxed, they have rested and they don’t feel alone,” says Juan Luis, who also appreciates the support received during his trip “and the solidarity we have seen.”
girls know what’s up
Liubava, Yesenia and Varya leave behind their country and their parents with whom Juan Luis and María Jesús have maintained regular contact since they welcomed Yesenia in the summer of 2017, contact that will now be daily. «Her mother has been very sad but she understands that it is the best for her. She is also worried that her eldest son could be recruited », says Juan Luis, who also acknowledges that the girls« are aware of everything that is happening in Ukraine because they see images ».
“The worst thing in these cases is the uncertainty about the future because nobody knows how Ukraine will look after the war or what will happen to their home or work,” laments Juan Luis, also grateful to his 25-year-old daughter Andrea, who is the one who has taken care of the bureaucratic procedures to be able to bring the girls to Ciudad Real. They are expected to arrive on Saturday. The first thing they will notice will be the thermal change: they will go from 7 degrees below zero that they have had to endure on the Ukrainian border to 11 that are expected in the capital of La Mancha. Yesenia and Varya will stay with Juan Luis and María Jesús and the eldest, Liubava, will live with a family from Miguelturra, a town only 11 kilometers from Ciudad Real capital.
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