Edina and Ana are twins with kind hearts and brilliant minds from Romania. They have been volunteers at YMCA Romania for more than ten years and contributed to youth development and empowerment through camps and various activities.
Both are interested in sports, often participating in different running or hiking tournaments, balanced by their artistic skills. After graduating from the University of Cluj, Romania, where they studied design and architecture, the sisters decided to get master’s degrees and pursue their goals and dreams in different countries. Edina decided to do her master’s in France, while Ana moved to Norway. After years spent far from their country, they came back to Romania, trying to build something their own.
As the war started in Ukraine, the sisters did not think much and immediately joined the group of volunteers from YMCA Romania and headed to the border, where they would be able to help people together. They have been volunteering at the blue dot for around two months, which was full of emotional encounters. Girls shared with us one of the most emotional cases from the border.
A beautiful lady showed up at the blue dot during one of the first days of Edina and Ana volunteering there. She was traveling with her two children from Ukraine. Her speech was incoherent and hard to understand, not because of the language barrier, but because of the trauma and fear that girls could easily read on her face. Based on her look, she must have spent some days in the shelter. Girls tried to comfort and help her as much as possible; however, it was hard to convince the lady to trust them.
She was trying to travel to Prague; however, she declined the train route that she was offered, as she was scared of traveling by train, thinking about all the things that could have happened to her or her children on the way.
Unfortunately, the lady decided to leave as soon as she was asked to hand in her passport for registration purposes, leaving questions in the minds of the girls.
“I have thought about the lady multiple times. I was wondering if she reached Prague or if she had a place to stay. Just how she was, in general” -Edina.
This is not a “happy” story of a friendship built at the border (and girls have many stories of that kind), but this case helped the twins realize how fragile a human can be and how much care and attention to detail is needed while working with people from different backgrounds.
However, as mentioned earlier, girls connected with many people and even built friendships, thanks to their kindness and welcoming smile. They talk about their new friends from Ukraine fondly as they were affected by their strength and positivity during these hard days. One of the highlights was a Ukrainian dancer from Kyiv, a wonderful, open-minded young lady called Pavlova, who became good friends with Edina and stayed connected with her even after leaving Romania.
Right now, Ana and Edina are working at the Daycare center ROUA, conducting different activities with children, such as art therapy- Cartooning, hiking, camping, and so on. The twins are happy to be able to contribute to the Ukrainian-Romanian community created in their small hometown, which would not be the same without peaceful and kind people such as Ana and Edina.
