Moroccan Student Flees War-Torn Ukraine, Seeks Refuge in France

"I was studying pharmacy in Russian. It was supposed to end in June with the passing of my second ’Krock’ (pharmacy degree, editor’s note). On Thursday morning, at 4 a.m. in the middle of the night, I was woken up by the bombs and gunfire under my window... I took refuge in the metro on Thursday and Friday. Frankly, I was panicked, it was hell, I saw my future going up in smoke. [...] Anyway, I had nothing left, nowhere to go," explains Jaffar in an interview with Midi Libre.

To read: article 90951

The young man, now safe and sound, recounts that he was seized with "panic, stress and stunned disbelief" when he took the train to leave the city. "I stood for 18 hours without eating or drinking. The train stopped every two hours to avoid the radars. Frankly, I saw my life flash before my eyes," he confides. Once at the border post in Oujhorod, he was eager to leave Ukraine. After a brief detour through Maliberezni, he was able to reach Ubla in Slovakia before taking the bus to Prague on Monday, where he finally reunited with Rayanne and Medhi.

To read: article 91012

"We spent two days with residents, to regain our strength and complete the administrative formalities, and arrived this Thursday, March 3, in Le Pouget," says Jaffar, who is thinking of the many Ukrainians and foreign nationals who "did not manage to leave" and from whom he "no longer has any news." "It’s very hard. I hope the war will end soon," he wished.

Jaffar is also worried about the validation of his pharmacy degree. "I learned Russian orally and in writing to follow this course, I made big sacrifices during these almost six years of study for nothing? And the worst for me is that I only had two months left to get my degree," he complains, as Ukrainian degrees are not recognized in Europe or in Morocco, his country of origin.