Marta, her two older brothers and her mother were walking through the broken streets of Mariupol. The family was leaving their war-torn hometown. Sometimes they had to run. Bullets whistled, shells exploded overhead, but the worst were the air raids, because there was no escape from them. Marta understood this clearly, she didn't even hide, she just leaned against the nearest wall.
The family walked through the centre, past the destroyed Drama Theatre. It was difficult to breathe because of the burning and smoke. They could no longer turn away from the corpses on the street. Just recently, Marta saw a grave being dug for a neighbour in the yard. The man went to the balcony and was killed by shell fragments.
For several weeks, Marta's family was starving, and her mother divided the last of her bread into small pieces and hid most of it for a rainy day. But all those days in Mariupol were rainy days.They drank water from the river and were happy to have this opportunity.
The family survived. At the age of 18, Marta went to hell and got out. Hysterics, tears, mourning - all this came later.
The girl told her war story at one of the capital's centres for comprehensive support for internally displaced persons, YaMariupol. This is where Marta works with and for her fellow countrymen.
