Kate Savenkova

My name is Kateryna Savenkova.

I lived in Kyiv and worked as an actress in a theater on the Left Bank of the Dnipro.

On the morning of February 24, we were supposed to have a gathering of the troupe when Kyiv began to be bombed. I woke up from the sounds and did not understand what it was. I thought it might be thunder. But this sound was a little different.

Then I realized that these were explosions. Quite close, noisy. Feelings that I had not had before, I remembered it.

There was no panic. On the contrary, I was strangely calm. My parents told me that they had to take my son out of Kyiv (they miraculously came to see me, they wanted to be near me because the atmosphere was already quite tense). Everyone began to gather, and I said - you go, and I will go to the theater to gather the troupe."Katya, this is a war, what gathering of the troupe?" - the phrase brought me to my senses a little.

At first, we hid in the basements because the bomb shelters were closed. And then the children felt very bad there, it was scary. We decided to stay at home and follow the rule of two walls.

I decided to leave Ukraine when my son woke up at night and screamed - I was scared, and I dreamed of a bomb. Etc…

My father drove me with my son and my in-law with her daughter to Italy. We stayed there for a month and decided to go to the USA. The journey took 5 days. We crossed the border in Mexico, in Tijuana. The last night before crossing the border, I had to sleep on the floor in a refugee camp.

And so I remembered this feeling when, after so many days on the road, we crossed the border and saw the ocean. I just ran and took pictures of myself and my son, he was also running around the beach. I wanted to remember that feeling.

It was about this that Olena offered me a photo shoot.

I am very thankful for everything that I have now. I thank life for all the opportunities. I am thankful for the talented people with whom fate brings me together. Thank you for this photo session, Aliona. I just saw the pictures you made, thank you for being in them.

If people want to help Ukraine, then they should start not to be afraid of anything. To everyone. Respect yourself and keep your thoughts clean. If you have the strength, help those who need it. If not, ask for help and help yourself.