A few years ago, the life of Igor Galli (@my_walkabout) of Goiás consisted of traveling non-stop around the world. In almost two decades on the road, he managed to visit more than 150 countries and became the most traveled Brazilian in the world according to the Nomad Mania website rankings.
During a recent visit to Europe, Igor fell in love with the Ukrainian Galia, the two got married, “got pregnant” and lived peacefully in the small town of Pustomyty on the outskirts of Lviv in February of this year.
“My life was beautiful. I was teaching English at a local school and I was waiting for the baby to arrive with my wife. We had a house and a car, everything was fine,” says Igor.
That’s when the sirens sounded. With the Russian invasion of the country came the threat of missile and bomb attacks on local homes and streets.
scare routine
For years, Igor was tired of putting his backpack on his back to travel to a new destination on the planet. Now, when the sirens sounded, he needed to quickly grab a suitcase of essentials to run towards the cold underground bunkers to protect himself from possible air raids.
And these tense moments occurred at any time of the day, early in the morning or at night. “My wife was already six months pregnant,” says the Brazilian. “Fortunately, no missiles landed directly on our city. But it was often a tension.”
However, it didn’t take long for Igor to volunteer with a group to conduct night patrols on Pustomyty, identify possible Russian spies infiltrating Ukrainian cities, and closely identify attack targets.
I was not armed. But there were people on patrol carrying weapons. We even caught people suspected of spying.”
Brazilians also helped gather food, medicine, and clothing to be sent to the war fronts and refugees, and witnessed up close that the entire community came together to help Ukraine.
Image: Personal archive
For example, residents would often gather outdoors and inside buildings to produce camouflage nets for Ukrainian main battle tanks.
The old ladies of his wife’s family set up a real production line in their kitchen, preparing large quantities of food for the soldiers.
“I was very proud of the Ukrainians. Seeing how they came together to help their armies during the war,” Igor says.
Igor helped collect clothes and blankets for war refugees
personal archive
Igor helped gather food for soldiers and war refugees
personal archive
Pustomyty residents make camouflage nets for tanks
personal archive
Igor helped collect clothes for war refugees
personal archive
Igor in Turkmenistan before moving to Ukraine
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Igor in Curaçao before moving to Ukraine
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Igor in Sarajevo before moving to Ukraine
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Igor in Machu Picchu before moving to Ukraine
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Igor in Argentina before moving to Ukraine
personal archive
shelter and birth
As the war raged, he and his pregnant wife decided to leave Ukraine, taking the refugee route to Slovakia. “It was the most sensible thing to do when Galia was pregnant,” she says.
Accompanied by other Ukrainians (including children), they walked part of the way to the Slovak border, and from there they took a train away from the conflict.
“We decided to move to France and now we live in the city of Nancy, where I already have a job and a home to live in,” says the Brazilian, who holds a European passport.
But so far it has been difficult to complete this entire trip. Life is a thousand. For now, the plan is to stay in France. We’ll see what he does when the war is over.”
Image: Personal archive
This June, Igor and Galia’s daughter was born healthy in France, bringing a great sense of optimism to the parents. And of course, Brazilians are already eager to envision the future of sightseeing for their families.
“My daughter has a Brazilian father, a Ukrainian mother, and was born in France. Now we have to decide which passport to give her,” he jokes. “I can’t wait for our first trip.”
source: Noticias
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