Nina, a 76-year-old Ukrainian woman, was forced to flee her home in Zhytomyr in order to survive. She didn’t want to leave her house, but when the shelling became very frequent and one of the rockets exploded not far from her house, she realized that there was nothing left for her to do but to try to leave Zhytomyr.

Other residents of Zhytomyr who were also fleeing the bombing drove Nina out of the city in their car. They took her to the Polish border, and Nina ended up at the refugee center, created in a former shopping mall. Nina was suffering from severe back pain, which had worsened after the long, nonstop ride in a car full of people.

When a member of the Hadassah Medical Organization humanitarian mission asked her where she was going next, Nina replied that she was going to Prague. In Prague, Nina will be received by the family of her daughter’s friend—a family she had never met and knew nothing about until now.

Nina had never been to Prague before either. She hopes one day to return to her home in Zhytomyr—if there is anything left of it.