As Ukraine enters its seventh week of war, some of its citizens, suffering from the neurodegenerative disease, learn every morning that their country is at the heart of conflict.
While the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 4.6 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the start of the war, most of them are young people in good health. Many elderly or disabled people have not been able to leave and are being shelled by Russian troops. Some of them suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, which affects the memory.
This is the case of the grandmother of Olga Boichak, a Ukrainian sociologist who teaches at the University of Sydney. On the eve of her 90th birthday, this Ukrainian, whose granddaughter kept her name secret as a precaution, discovers every morning by turning on the television that her country is at war.
stuck in aendless circleAccording to Olga Boichak, the octogenarian invariably rushes to pack his bags and flee. It is her husband, to whom she has been married for over sixty years, who prevents her from doing so. True to his country, he is determined to spend the end of his life in their small house in western Ukraine. So he tries to reassure his wife and hides the keys to the front door.
While her grandmother experienced bombing during World War II, Olga Boichak regrets having to face the “trauma of rediscovering that the war started†
Wave of testimonials
The sociologist shared her grandmother’s story on her Twitter account on April 5, 2022. Fifteen days and 44,000 Loves later his story went around the world. It shed light on an unusual but visibly widespread phenomenon: the tweet sparked a wave of similar testimonials.
Liza Vovchenko tells how the daily life of her grandmother Rita, 82, who lived in the city of Kherson before the Russian invasion, was completely turned upside down. †And people like her really need routine in their livesshe adds.
While Rita regularly went for walks, it’s hard to explain to her that her walks are now impossible, especially since the market she used to go to is now closed due to the war. Liza Vovchenko explains that as her grandmother “otherwise has all his mental faculties, it is difficult for him to remember information†
Rita now lives with the young woman’s parents and her grandson in Dnipro. Because she knows little about the city, she wants to go out less, which according to her family affects her quality of life.
Another internet user, Tetiana, says her grandmother Lyubov Tykhovska, who lives in Lviv, is completely unaware that a war has broken out in her country. The most recent news she remembers is the coronavirus pandemic: convinced that the latter is still causing many deaths, the elderly lady remains locked in her house. †We’ve tried to update her on certain events, but she forgets or ignores them right away.‘ says Tetiana.
Since Lyubov Tykhovska has not followed the news on television or radio for years, her family has decided not to explain the current situation to her so as not to upset her, unless the authorities request that the city be evacuated. Lyubov also suffered from hearing problems and did not hear the warning sirens that warned of bombing raids in Lviv at the beginning of the war.
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