Hundreds of African students from Sumy State University in Ukraine have managed to escape the war-torn country, most by bus, train and taxi, after days of Russian bombardment. Now they take refuge in Hungary and struggle with the uncertainty of what is to come.
“I have invested five years of my life in Sumy State University. I’m just confused. I don’t know what the next step is,” said medical student Angel Ebeh, 23. “I just need help from anywhere. I really can’t say how difficult it was. I feel like I’m not mentally stable.
Residents of the besieged northeastern city of Sumy began evacuating on March 8 after Russia agreed to a ceasefire to create safe evacuation corridors across the country. The night before the evacuations, several strikes in the city hit residential buildings and killed civilians.
More … than 3 million people fled Ukraine since the invasion began on February 24, including hundreds of foreign students who filled about 20 buses from Sumy.
African students in Ukraine have led their own rescue efforts, creating networks to connect students across the country and provide resources, as non-Ukrainians say they faced discrimination and abuse as they tried to escape. But the student organizers had no way of reaching those in Sumy, who were left without electricity, food, water or heat. Nigerian students studying medicine at school have described a harrowing ordeal of being trapped in dormitories for days without electricity.
“The trauma from the sound of bombs and missiles kind of affected me mentally,” said Tolu Kolapo-Bello, 21, a fifth-year medical student, adding that sometimes she and other students spend days in a bunker.
“Sometimes we would just hear the alarm to go underground to the bunker. Everyone runs, we hear noises, the walls vibrate. We have to go to the basement, and it’s dark. We don’t know when to come out or what’s going to happen next. Sometimes bombs explode as early as 5 am and… we still have to stay there until the afternoon, sometimes all day. At one point, I felt like all hope was lost.
Many students fled to Hungary with nothing but their passports and the clothes on their backs. Several students explained that they depended on taxis to get away and that the drivers demanded hundreds of dollars per passenger, which made it almost impossible to get on trains heading to border towns. After finally reaching the trains, the students traveled for days before arriving in Budapest.
African students living in Ukraine have said they were denied access to trains, beaten or left stranded in border towns as they tried to flee. The students remembered being the last to board and waiting for hours to do so. Passengers pushed African students and told them “don’t touch me,” Kolapo-Bello said. “It was very, very hurtful,” she said. “Ukraine and racism, they still have a long way to go on this.”
Several students have stayed at Airbnbs in Hungary with the help of the disaster relief nonprofit Global Empowerment Mission, in partnership with American television personality Bethenny Frankel’s BStrong organization. The groups have helped nearly 300 African students flee Ukraine.
However, the road is still long for the students. Many say their dreams of becoming doctors are now in limbo and they are desperately trying to move on to other schools. Students said these universities have requested reference letters and transcripts, but the war has made it almost impossible to obtain the documents they need to enroll.
“I just entered my third year and I feel hopeless. The years I spent reading and trying could all be wasted,” said 18-year-old Adeniyi “Nancy” Oluwuademilade. “I am considering transfers to other schools, and if I could get it I would be so happy.
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