After 10 long days of isolation, my mother wants the world to know that a humanitarian catastrophe has hit her city

On Saturday morning, I woke up in my home in Poland to a call from an unknown number. The woman on the line said she had a message from my mother in Mariupol, and my heart stopped beating for a moment: my mum is alive. Knowing this is my new definition of happiness.

For the past seven years I have made sure my mobile ringer is on before going to sleep, a simple rule I follow just in case my mum calls. But since the start of March, there has been no electricity in that city, and I haven’t heard her voice.

Gordana Kruuti is originally from Mariupol. She lives in Warsaw, Poland.

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