No one chooses to leave behind their home, their community, and their life #WorldRefugeeDay

In other words, no one chooses to be a refugee. Migration, adaptation and integration is also not a piece of cake 🍰. But there are certainly the circumstances and things you cannot plan...

On World Refugee Day, ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) recognizes the strength of people forced to flee, as well as the hardship, loss and uncertainty they carry with them. So do I. 

Nearly 70 thousand Ukrainian refugees are living in Switzerland 🇨🇭 now. I'm just one of them. Just one of those who started a new life in a beautiful prosperous developed European, yet a new country. Without any personal or professional connections, right from the refugee bunker below the famous Berno Expo. 

It's been more than 4 years now. Four years for my children to master German, Swiss Deutsch + French as an official Fribourg Cantone language. To make new friends, start new sports ⛷️🚵‍♀️ and hobbies 🎸 but still remain themselves. Open to the (new) world and opportunities but still remembering where they belong to. Four years of breaking biass and stereotypes about Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees (well, still working on it now 😃). 

Four years to realize that your previous experience, expertise and professional connections have not that big value here unless you're up to develop and learn further. Four years to understand where and how to move and develop further. 

We made a lot of new friends, found an incredible host family, met great people of different nationalities and backgrounds and now know a lot of things about life in Switzerland which you'd never google 🤣. 

I'm still working on my first book in English 🖋️and going to translate it in German. I've partnered with some great people to launch an international cultural project on scientific diplomacy and a Window on Ukraine "Вікно в Україну": Ukrainian Cultural Center in Fribourg open for people of all cultural, educational and religious backgrounds.

We are .. we still are ... we're up to.... 

Whatever happens in this turbulent crazy world 🌍 this or next year, in the world where the international humanitarian law and rules of war are completely violated and neglected by the biggest and richest countries, we're now finally at home 🏠 here. Home is not a place, an address, a city or a country. It's a feeling. On the World Refugee Day I wish all the refugees could stay safe and find their homes again.

From Switzerland 🇨🇭, with love 💛🩵 

June 20, 2026