Sunday June 26, 2022. A blazing sun beats down on Przemysl, in the south-east of Poland, where buses transport hundreds of Ukrainians to a huge shopping center transformed into a refugee camp. The mines are devastated.
President of the Un Crayon pour le Nepal association, Bernard de Amicis (whom we accompanied during this mission) parks the van loaned by the Stenay social and cultural center in the center parking lot. Accompanied by Julien Scavo, he has just transported supplies to another humanitarian center, in Medyka, two hundred meters from the Ukrainian border.
The vehicle can transport nine people, it will leave towards France with Bogdana, Sahib and Layla, their 2-year-old daughter. Eighteen hours of driving later, the family is taken in by the Meuse Association of Information and Mutual Aid (AMIE), which will settle them in Stenay, where they have lived since July 2022.
A great first for the mayor
It was therefore in the commune, this Saturday, October 19, that Bogdana and Sahib said “yes” to each other in front of their loved ones, Bernard, Julien but also Valeria, Bogdana’s first daughter, who came specially from kyiv for this wedding celebrated by the mayor, Stéphane Perrin, who had “never had the pleasure of marrying an Azeri person (Editor’s note: Sahib’s nationality)”.
Indeed, the young groom, who now works at the Beauclair sawmill, was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, which notably allowed him to leave Ukraine three months after the start of the Russian invasion. His witness was none other than their neighbor on rue Gounod, the bubbly Philippe-Michel Pécheux, while Bogdana, seamstress at Étoffe Meuse, was accompanied by her supervisor, Ruzan Pashinyan, who also provided translation.
” Thank you so much “
Even if Layla easily got over it, the language barrier still slowed down the couple who therefore showed their deep gratitude by sending emotional looks colored with “thank you very much”.
After the ceremony and a small horn concert in the streets of Stenay, the procession gathered in a converted garage in the neighborhood to continue the celebration around Bogdana and Sahib. “You’ve only been here for two years but it’s already been two great years,” smiled Stéphane Perrin, who sees their story as “a journey of hope, of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. » Long live the bride and groom! And long live peace.
More photos on www.estrepublicain.fr
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