(MENAFN- The Post)
FOUR terrified Basotho students who were studying in war-torn Ukraine arrived in the country on Tuesday night.
All four told thepost yesterday that they had encountered racism as well as generosity from strangers until they touched down at Moshoeshoe I International airport.
They said it is mostly people from African countries like Lesotho who were discriminated against and were only allowed to flee after whites were successfully taken out.
Most of them were still emotional and could not talk to the media.
In an interview with thepost, Kekeletso Mathaba, 23, from Leribe, Sebothoane who was studying Medicine at Kharkiv National Medical University in Kharkiv, said they left in a hurry without even taking their possessions.
Mathaba is in her third year of a six-year course.
“We thought we would return to our school until we later realised that it was not possible,” she said.
The university is considered the number one medical school in Ukraine and Europe.
Kharkiv was the first city to be heavily bombed by the Russians at the start of their aggression.
With a shaking voice, Mathaba said she is hoping that the government will intervene and help as she does not see herself back at school.
She said she later discovered that her school was bombed to the ground, meaning her chances of going back to Ukraine are slim.
Forcing back tears, Mathaba expressed her disappointment at the warnings they were given while in Ukraine.
She said they were given a raw deal by the school when they were told that the Russians were only engaged in military exercises and nothing more at the Ukrainian borders.
“We were told the exercises were done and Russians were to leave the borders as the matter was just politics. We believed them,” Mathaba said.
She said they were taken by surprise when the Russian forces started attacking Kharkiv with missiles and bombs.
Out of nowhere, the explosions started at 5am and Mathaba and her friend had to take their small backpacks to flee to the nearest town.
Peeping through the window, she saw smoke billowing in their vicinity.
That sight scared them.
From Kharkiv, she said they fled to Polpaba where they spent the night until in the morning when rumours started spreading that the Russians were closing in on Poplaba.
“We then fled to Lviv hoping that we would find the situation better there, but to no avail,” Mathaba said.Minutes after reaching Lviv and trying to take a rest, sirens started blaring.
Without wasting any second, they then fled to the Polish border where they found a lot of congestion.And it was hard to get in.
Mathaba said they had to travel to the Hungarian border seeking an opportunity to get in.
She said they were helped by one Ukrainian Ambassador who negotiated their pass to Hungary.
Mathaba thanked Sam Matekane for booking a ticket for her to get back home while she was stranded on foreign land.
“I was afraid. I just wanted to make it out alive,” she said.
Amid frustration and desperation she received a call from Matekane.
Seeing stranded children walking on the snow barefooted without their parents or even enough clothes further traumatised her.
She said she saw women carrying guns on the streets.
Mathaba recalled a case of a young woman who lost her baby in the process.
Though afraid, she helped in the search for the lost baby.
Mathaba said these are memories she cannot take out of her head.
Rethabile Lepolesa, a returning student, said she was angry with the Ukrainians who discriminated against them.
Speaking on state television on Tuesday night, Lepolesa said the attack came as a surprise as they were told it would start on Monday evening.
But instead started on Monday morning.
Lepolesa said they were only told that the Russians would attack military bases not civilians.
“We were told to listen to the sirens every time so that should anything happen we are safe in the bunkers,” she said.
She said her journey back home was manifested with ups and downs which included racial discrimination.
Foreign Affairs Minister 'Matšepo Molise-Ramakoae thanked the businessmen who helped finance the students' air tickets saying the government was making preparations for tickets but the private sector quickly stepped in.
“The assistance to return the students was done by Rome and Berlin as well as the private sector,” Molise-Ramakoae said
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