When We Get Home

A baby “usually” begins crawling between 6 and 13 months. Between 9 and 12 months, he or she starts to pull themselves up. And between 8 and 18 months, a baby walks for the first time.

In March of 2020, Rosa was 9 years old. And she took her steps. It was a sunny day and cries, laughter, and gasps echoed across the big bedroom as she took her first strides.

By July of 2020, Rosa was walking from her bed to the door of the room she shared with 16 other Ukrainian orphans in Krasnobród, Poland.

Rosa is one of 29 Ukrainian individuals with an Intellectual Disability who escaped from an institution in the central part of the country as the Russian tanks rolled in, turning her hometown into a battleground. Four caregivers from the institution organized and led the group of 29 – most of whom have severe intellectual and physical disabilities and require around the clock care – on their perilous journey to Krasnobród Poland. For 6 days and 6 nights, they drove a small bus with no AC or radio through the war torn streets of the Ukraine. Rosa sat on one of the torn leather benches closer to the front of the bus, for most of the trip.

She was in the process of getting adopted when the war began, but those plans fell through.

And while safety and security quickly have become uncertain for Rosa, one thing remains unwavering - her will to fight for both with each and every step.