She is in slippers and with a small handbag.
Babushka in a colorful handkerchief supported by a stick, measured heavily on the muddy asphalt road at the Planka border crossing.
by herself.
She passes the long line of cars on the Moldavian side, waiting long hours at the side of the road to greet the refugees.
A family member is also waiting for her.
She finally finds him.
He pounces on her in a hug and quickly picks her up in his jerky vehicle.
Outside zero degrees, rain, hail and winds.
Inside the vehicle is more protected.
Vera from Odessa crosses the border in a wheelchair, Photo: Yifat Erlich
We're in Planka.
Nice to meet you.
It hurts to know.
Makes the stomach recognize.
This is the southern border crossing between Moldova and Ukraine.
About 100,000 refugees have passed through it in the past week.
On the Ukrainian side a 12-kilometer traffic jam, on the Moldavian side a few tents, hot drinks, food, buses and dozens of volunteers, acquaintances and relatives waiting for hours in the bitter cold for the visitors.
The largest tent was erected by Israid volunteers, the Israeli Forum for Humanitarian Aid.
The hands holding the camera and microphone freeze, but the heart warms up and is filled with Israeli pride.
"I left my parents"
"We are from Odessa," Christina says in English, holding a two-year-old toddler waving a bag of snacks.
"I want to thank all the good people who are now helping us. We hope the war is over and we can return to our home. I left my parents there, I left everything, my job, everything," she chokes for a moment and now her face is wet not only from the rain.
Mother and daughter crossing the border in Moldova, where they arrived after fleeing Ukraine, Photo: AFP
"We had a beautiful and good life there. We reached the border with our vehicle, but it was impossible to keep in a traffic jam, so I left the vehicle and walked for three hours with three small children. From here we continue to Chisinau and then to Germany."
She gets into Costa's car, a volunteer from the Moldavian side, a tall, energetic redheaded guy.
He travels in his private car back and forth to Chisinau, a two-and-a-half-hour drive away, and helps transport refugees.
This is already the third time he is doing it today.
Another volunteer is Tamer Abu Gama, an Israeli from Rahat, a medical student in Moldova.
"We came to donate, me and my friends, to help the students, and everyone who needs it. To help them get to hotels. We are here 24 hours."
Vera (81) from Odessa crosses the border in a wheelchair that her daughter is pushing.
First of all they are looking for services.
The wheelchair does not pass through the front door and is left outside.
In the bathroom hallway two children are sitting on the wet floor next to the stove.
It is cold outside, and the tents are crowded and stuffy.
They divert the passage to Vera, who with great difficulty takes a few steps, to one of the cells of the stamp of injury.
As everywhere, here too there are classes.
The more affluent manage to bribe, bypass the queue on the Ukrainian side and pass with the vehicle.
They arrive in Chisinau and rent a comfortable hotel.
The medium-sized ones cross the border on foot, stand in line in torrential rain and eventually board buses or volunteer vehicles.
The poor who arrive at the emergency center set up in Chisinau are debating whether and where to move on.
At the bottom are the gypsies.
In one of the tents in Planka is a family with children, who have been sleeping at the border crossing for several days.
Among the thousands of refugees flowing into the border are also Jews.
It is estimated that in the last week 5,000 Jews fled Ukraine via Moldova.
A representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assists in the transition itself to those who have a problem with documents.
Distribution of water to refugees, Photo: AFP
A representative of the agency has also been on the Moldovan side for three days, directing everyone who needs help to reach the shelter set up by the JDC and the Friendship Foundation.
"There is a mobilization of solidarity between people here," says Benny Haddad, director of the Aliyah Foundation at the Friendship Foundation. "This is perhaps the only thing that warms the heart here."
Lots of orphans
120 people got off together in two buses from the Chabad community in Odessa, including 105 children and 15 staff members. Among the babies and children are also many orphans, some of whom do not have proper documents.
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