BECOV NAD TEPLOU, Czech Republic: Ukrainian seamstress Olga Shandyba had never lived in a castle until she fled war for the Czech Republic. Now she would give anything to leave the fairy-tale lodgings and return home.
The 37-year-old is among 22 Ukrainian women and children being housed at a 14th century castle in the western Czech Republic after fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland.
“We never expected to live in a castle,” Shandyba told AFP.
“Our children are like princesses. We are like princesses. For them it’s an adventure,” she said. “It is an adventure for us too in a way.”
The Becov nad Teplou castle is home of the St. Maurus Reliquary, a cherished 13th-century artifact said to contain the remains of St. John the Baptist, among others. It is considered by some the second most valuable artifact in the country after the Czech crown jewels.
Becov is now also home to a dozen Ukrainian refugee children and 10 mothers of various backgrounds, including a florist, a lawyer and a piano player.
“We are very grateful for the quiet, the warmth, the kindness,” said Shandyba, who fled heavy shelling in her hometown of Okhtyrka by train.
Of more than four million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war, the Czech Republic has welcomed 300,000. The country’s National Heritage Institute has earmarked 110 beds at 17 different heritage sites to provide free shelter as part of the relief effort.
The Institute has so far registered 66 refugees — a third of whom are living in Becov nad Teplou, including in a dormitory normally used for out-of-town tour guides.
“This year, we will only hire local guides who have a place to stay,” Becov caretaker Tomas Wizovsky told AFP.
Nastya Bidkova, a singing teacher from Ukraine’s Dnipro, said it was “absolutely unexpected” to live in a castle.
“We felt very lucky when we arrived at night and saw a beautiful castle with our flags out of the window. It was really nice,” she told AFP.
Becov had no problem sourcing Ukrainian flags as blue and yellow were the colors of its former owners, the Questenberg family, Wizovsky said.
“We had them in store and could fly them almost the instant the decision was taken to show our solidarity,” he said.
The town of Becov nad Teplou, with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, has welcomed more than 60 Ukrainian refugees over the past month.
Housed in hotels, pensions and private homes as well as the castle, the children now attend the local school. The town is also taking care of visas and essentials like linen and towels, as well as jobs which, however, are hard to find.
The refugees received a free tour of the castle with all its gems and the town held a get-together to welcome the newcomers.
The children have begun to relish the opportunity and shake off their fears.
“For the first two days they didn’t talk, they were timid, too quiet after all their suffering and travel,” Wizovsky said.
“Now they are normal children.”
But despite the hospitality, the shadow of the Russian invasion looms large. The children’s mothers often look worried, smiles are rare, and they opt to indulge in odd jobs to keep their minds from wandering.
“Yes, they are living in a castle, but there’s certainly no bonus involved,” Wizovsky said.
Bidkova said she would rather swap the experience for Ukraine. “To get back to our families and our men who are fighting for peace over there,” she explained.
Shandyba too said she wanted to return to her own house.
“If it’s still standing,” she added.
Ukrainian ‘princesses’ pine for home in Czech castle
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Ukrainian ‘princesses’ pine for home in Czech castle
- The 37-year-old is among 22 Ukrainian women and children being housed at a 14th century castle in the western Czech Republic after fleeing the Russian invasion
- Becov is now also home to a dozen Ukrainian refugee children and 10 mothers of various backgrounds
In southeast Pakistan, Ramadan brings Hindus and Muslims closer
MITHI: Partab Shivani, a Hindu in Muslim-majority Pakistan, has fasted on and off during Ramadan for years, but this time is different as he practices abstinence for the entire holy month.
Every year, he and his friends in the southeastern city of Mithi arrange iftar, when Muslims break their daily fast, to foster peace and solidarity between the two religions.
“I believe we need to promote interfaith harmony. First, we are humans — religions came later,” Shivani, a 48-year-old social activist, told AFP, adding that he also reads the teachings of the Buddha.
“His message is about peace and ending war. Peace can spread through solidarity and by standing with one another. Distance only widens the gap between people,” he added.
Ninety-six percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people are Muslim. Just two percent are Hindu, most of them living in rural areas of Sindh province where Mithi is located.
In Mithi itself, most of the 60,000 inhabitants are Hindu.
Many of the city’s Hindus also observe Ramadan and iftar has become a social gathering where people from both faiths happily participate.
“This has been a wonderful tradition of ours for a very long time,” said Mir Muhammad Buledi, a 51-year-old Muslim friend who attended Shivani’s iftar gathering.
“It is a beautiful example of harmony between the two communities.”
Like brothers
Discrimination against minorities runs deep in Pakistan.
Following the end of British rule in South Asia in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned into mainly Hindu India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
That triggered widespread religious bloodshed in which hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, freedom of religion or belief is under constant threat, with religiously motivated violence and discrimination increasing yearly.
State authorities, often using religious unrest for political gain, have failed to address the crisis, the independent non-profit says.
But such tensions are absent in Mithi.
“I am a Hindu but I keep all the fasts during this month,” said Sushil Malani, a local politician. “I feel happy standing with my Muslim brothers.
“We celebrate Eid together as well. This tradition in the region is very old.”
Restaurants and tea stalls are closed across Pakistan during Ramadan.
Ramesh Kumar, a 52-year-old Hindu man who sells sweets and savoury items outside a Muslim shrine, keeps his push cart covered and closed until iftar.
“There is no discrimination among us if someone is Muslim or Hindu. I have been seeing this since my childhood that we all live together like brothers,” he said.
Muslim shrine, Hindu caretaker
Locals say Mithi’s peaceful religious coexistence can be traced to its remote location, emerging from the sand dunes of the Tharparkar desert, which borders the modern Indian state of Rajasthan.
Cows — considered sacred in Hinduism — roam freely in Mithi city, as they do in neighboring India.
At two Sufi Muslim shrines in the middle of the city, Hindu families arrange meals, bringing fruit, meals and juices for their Muslim neighbors to break their fasts.
“We respect Muslims,” said Mohan Lal Malhi, a Hindu caretaker of one of the shrines.
Mohan said his parents and elders taught him to respect people regardless of religion or color, and the traditions pass from one generation to the next.
Local residents said both communities consider their social relationships more important than their religious identity.
“You will see a (Sikh) gurdwara, a mosque, and a shrine standing side by side here,” Mohan said. “The atmosphere of this area teaches humanity.”
