Zelik, 9, from Moldova: "We'll be back home, all of us"
Zelik, 9, from Odessa, has been on the road for 19 hours.
He is sitting in the car in the back, and his mother is driving.
They stand in a long convoy of vehicles, before crossing the border between Moldova and Romania.
Zelik really likes to dance and when his mischievous curls jump up, a light comes on in his green eyes.
They did not have time to take almost anything with them.
Some clothes, and already barely any food with them.
When the war broke out, his father was just at work in Amsterdam.
They may have been happy that he was in a safe place, but everything is a little more scary when Dad is away, even though Mom is a real hero.
Zelik and his mother decided not to stay in Moldova, but they do not want to stay away from Ukraine.
"We will all return - Dad, Mom and I - to our home in Odessa," states Zelik.
"We will return to our country that we love."
Jelik.
Many hours on the road, Photo: Reuters
Miriam Zelilova, 7, from Chisinau: "I miss my father and mother"
Miriam and Sara Zelilova, ages 7 and 4, are sitting on the carpet in the conference hall in Kishinev, weaving plastic beads.
On Thursday at six in the morning, they left Odessa with their sister, 17-year-old Rina.
Their parents stayed in Odessa with their younger brother, a six-month-old baby.
Sarah and Miriam smile and rejoice like girls who have gone on a long trip.
Miriam loves to draw, read and especially play hide and seek.
Sarah loves to draw and play.
The war does not worry them.
"I miss my father and mother, but I'm not afraid. God is watching over us," Miriam explains.
"I also take care of my little sister Sarah, like my mother told me before we left Odessa. And Rina takes care of both of us."
Rina does not look away from her sisters.
She smiles too.
Smiling and crying, crying and smiling.
"On Wednesday, at six in the evening, my parents informed me that I was going out with the two little ones, and that I was now in charge of them," she says.
"It's hard. It's a heavy sense of responsibility, and I do not know how long we will say goodbye to the parents. We set off at six in the morning. We stopped here in Chisinau for dinner, and we continue with the two buses of the Chabad community to Germany."
Miriam and Sarah.
"H. Shomer", Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In Odessa they live on the fifth floor, in a building next to the sea.
"There were explosions and we heard them in the distance. When there was an alarm we went downstairs, to a room with no windows. We have no shelter. It's very scary they shot at us from the sea. Mom told me this morning that after we left they fired missiles from the sea, but relative to other cities - quiet Odessa."
7-year-old Alexander from Poland: "I do not understand why there is a war"
Alexander, 7, was born in Ukraine and has a 3-year-old brother. His mother owns an English school and his father works as a truck driver.
Alexander studied this year in second grade.
He loves to play football and also go to school, meet his friends.
When the war broke out his father was not in Ukraine but in Poland.
At first Alexander did not want to leave the house and say goodbye to friends, but after talking to his parents he told his mother that he wanted to go to Dad.
Mother took him and his brother, and when they arrived in Poland - the father's name was waiting for them.
Now they have nothing but a few items of clothing and one game that Alexander loves.
"I do not understand what the war is about, but I hope it will end soon," he says, so he can leave the tent city where he now lives.
He wants to go home.
Alexander.
Did not want to leave,
5-year-old judge from Poland border: "I know something bad is happening"
The 5-year-old judge was born in Ukraine, and his mother is a computer science student in Kiev.
He had many friends of the same age in Ukraine.
He played with them a lot and went to kindergarten with them.
Judge does not understand what war is, but he knows "it's a bad thing, especially after hearing the shelling and alarms."
With the start of the fighting and the sounds of gunfire, he came under a lot of pressure.
His mother decided that she was very afraid to stay in Ukraine, both because of the anxiety for their lives and because of the fear of his mental state, so she started a journey towards the border to go to Poland, and from there, hopefully, to Germany.
Judge.
Very stressed,
Now she does not know what will happen next, because she has left all of Sheft's toys and things behind, and she does not even know when she will return - if at all - home.
Meanwhile, they are both sleeping in a tent near the border crossing.
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