Growing up in Kyiv, Anastasiia’s discovery of her own sexual orientation and gender identity as a pansexual person was a journey. “I started to collect some information that being a member of the LGBTIQ community is okay and began educating my homophobic friends,” Anastasiia shared.
Pictured: Anastasiia at her first Pride celebration in Berlin.
Anastasiia found strength in her community. “I didn’t like the closedness of this post-Soviet Union environment in Ukraine. My friends were more open to new information and progressive, and that’s why we supported each other,” she said.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Anastasiia thrived as a creative strategist at a marketing agency. “I really like research data, and I like to get insights that we can use to improve the strategy of the company. Maybe they have a problem that we can dig through and find what is causing it and improve the situation,” she explained.
Anastasiia cherished her Kyiv apartment, especially the sound of frogs on the nearby lake. “When I slept in my apartment, I heard some frogs on the lake. This sound is calming to me. I like that sound,” she remembered.
On February 24, 2022, bombs woke Anastasiia at 4:00 am. After reading about war crimes Russian forces were committing against women, she decided to flee Ukraine to reunite with her sister in Berlin.
Her three-day journey was grueling. “I was standing for 10 hours, and then some woman just gave me her seat to sit a little bit because I was exhausted,” she shared. In Poland, kindness from strangers touched her deeply. “I didn’t have the correct currency and wanted a cup of coffee. The woman who worked in the coffee shop said, ‘It’s okay if you can’t pay for it, it’s okay,’” she recalled emotionally.
Arriving in Berlin, Anastasiia struggled to adapt. “I started to remember how people live in Ukraine when you hear an air alarm, and you understand that it might be bombing somewhere, and you just have this new reality. But now people in Berlin are living their lives, drinking coffee, laughing, and happy. And [we] lost our previous lives,” she said.
“Maybe the war will stop, and I can go back home,” she thought.
Attending her first Pride celebration in Berlin marked a turning point. “In Ukraine, Pride is more of a protest and in Berlin it was a celebration which was shocking for me,” she said.
At Pride, Anastasiia discovered ORAM, and the team supported her efforts to build a new life. “Since I arrived in Berlin, I hadn’t worked. And while I found access to social help, I found little support in Berlin for accessing education,” she said.
Through ORAM’s economic empowerment program, Anastasiia took courses on DataCamp and joined the TENT mentorship program. “[My mentor] she’s amazing, and she gives me much useful information on how to search for a job and insights on improving my search,” she said. However, job searching in Germany remains daunting. “In Ukraine, I had a strong network. Here I don’t have these connections,” she added.
In her free time, Anastasiia volunteers with a Ukrainian Kitchen project that donates proceeds back to Ukraine. “I'm glad that we're collecting donations that go to Ukraine, and I feel that I'm helping somehow. Otherwise, you just stayed home, you read all this terrible news. And you really want to help, and you don't know how. It's a small part that I'm helping my country,” she said.
Pictured: Anastasiia volunteering at the Ukrainian kitchen.
Anastasiia credits ORAM and those who support the organization for making her stronger. “I want to say the biggest thank you because ORAM is truly like my fishing pole, helping me get better in my working skills and maybe I can help other people in the same situation,” she said.
Play a part in the lives of LGBTIQ refugees like Anastasiia by making a gift today.
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