My name is Halyna [name changed]; I’m from Kyiv. Now I live in Germany, in the Saarland. I came here in August 2022. My children forced me to leave, or else I would have stayed in Kyiv.

It so happened that I came here, and my children are in another country. When the war started, I sent them to my sister. But I’m renewing the documents to go to them. They took me from Ukraine, and they helped with the renewal of documents.

I have been taking ART since 2018. I learned about the virus when I was pregnant. Since then, I have been taking therapy. At the time of my departure, I had pills.

Before that, my friend from Poland sent me a link to the website of HelpNow. She said they were good volunteers. And here I am. When I came here to Germany, I met a volunteer named Larissa. She helped me find a doctor. She treated me with great understanding, which was very important to me. I wasn’t expecting that. There was no such thing in Kyiv, and social workers did not accompany anyone.

Here I was tested and found hepatitis C. Although I also did tests in Ukraine, hepatitis was not detected. Even in the Ukrainian medical statement, it is indicated that there is no hepatitis.

Larissa arranged for me at the doctor’s appointment and wrote where and when to come. At the doctor’s appointment, I had an interpreter with me, who Larissa found. A German doctor looked at the drugs I was taking in Ukraine and told me not to take them anymore because it was, he said, for people who had to die. He prescribed me others.

Larissa regularly calls me and asks me how I am doing, whether I have already gone to work, whether I have been to the doctor, whether I have been tested. Yes, I already work in Germany. And I’m constantly in touch with Larissa.

When I found out about hepatitis, I thought I would kill myself. Larissa and Olha reassured me that it can be treated. They called me every day, and I cried all the time. I was already going to die. I called the children, and said goodbye to them, my sister.

But I have already undergone treatment for hepatitis, and soon I will take control tests. Everything was free for me. The insurance pays. I feel good, even fattened by 9 kg.

I am very grateful to Larissa! I’ve never seen her, but I’m ready to hug and kiss her, honestly! You can just talk to her, and she’ll calm you down. After all, here, you encounter difficulties at every step. First of all, because of different language.

I still need to find a dentist. And I am still working on restoring documents so that children can come to me in Germany. They can be deported to Ukraine but not to Germany. It is good that such wonderful people can support and prevent them from losing heart, holding on, and fighting. I have never met such psychologists and help in my life.