Kolkata girl’s documentary on Ukraine refugees in Denmark – Times of India

KOLKATA: A Kolkata girl, who went to Aahrus in Denmark to study photojournalism, has made a photo documentary on two Ukrainian women who managed to flee the war-ravaged country and crossed over to Denmark with their children, leaving their husbands behind. Titled ‘On a Trip’ by Sandipa Malakar, a resident of Dum Dum, the documentary centres around Aleksandra, 30, and Veronica, 31, who lost everything in the war and managed to sneak into Denmark even as their city was under the Russian army’s siege.
“As the war started, Aleksandra fled her hometown Zaporizhya, a south-eastern city in Ukraine, with her daughter Miraslova, 8, to migrate to Denmark after a risky journey of 35 hours, after crossing the Polish border. She carried only a few warm clothes with her. I gifted her a red lipstick and she was overwhelmed. She hugged me and said that I was like an angel to her,” said Sandipa. She was desperate to do a story on Ukrainian war refugees entering Denmark but did not get a permission. Finally, on March 24, she met Aleksandra through a common friend.
Aleksandra was accompanied by her childhood friend Veronica and her two children — eight-month-old Karoline, and two-year-old Evan — and her mother. The Danish government welcomed them and they were given a cozy two-room-apartment in central Aarhus. Aleksandra has even got a work permit. But their fear of war persists and it has left eight-year-old Miraslova traumatized.
“Initially, when I saw the two families roaming around the city of Aarhus, I found it a little curious. It was as if they were on a holiday trip. Later, Aleksandra and Veronica said that they didn’t want to confine themselves in their apartment but wanted to explore the surroundings to distract themselves from the news of the war,” said Sandipa.
Net helped bridge language divide
The Kolkata girl, Sandipa Malakar, stayed with the Ukrainian families for more than 60 days till the middle of May and filmed them. Since they didn’t know each other’s language, she used to interact with Aleksandra and Veronica through Google translate.
Malakar then returned to her Nagerbazar home on June 16 at the end of her sixmonth course. “During the night, they would desperately try to make video calls to their husbands who were civilians, but are now fighting for their country with the Ukrainian army,” Malakar said. The photos taken by Malakar show the two roaming around the town, clicking pictures through the window, and their children playing with soft toys in their apartment.
“Veronica loves to recall their life back in Ukraine, where she had been a very busy professional and had an affluent personal life. She often checks the photos saved on her iPhone. She scrolls past the photos of the war because she doesn’t want to remember it and because of the fact that they had to flee their homeland,” said Malakar.