It’s a tragedy out there, it’s a disaster

“I was born and raised in Romania and so was my husband,” Stef-Praun said. “Romania was never part of the USSR, but we were under the influence, meaning we were led by a dictator, who was pledging allegiance to Russia and we were communist through and through with closed borders and everything.”

The role communism played in Romania influenced Stef-Praun’s otherwise happy childhood. The 1989 revolution that marked the fall of communism throughout Easter Europe is still vivid in her memories. The events in the Ukraine reverberate as a bell tolling from a distant past, of things that could have been, but luckily were avoided. Compared to all the Ukrainians fleeing their homes, Stef-Praun was lucky and never had to live through anything even remotely similar.

“I was 12 when the communist block fell but there was actually a revolution and I lived in one of those blocks of flats that you see on TV that are bombed in Ukraine,” Stef-Praun said. “I remember there were a few days during the revolution when there was shooting outside.”

Stef-Praun recalled the fear spread across Romania when it came to leaving their homes; however, she added it was nothing in comparison to the tragedy occurring in Ukraine.

“It’s a tragedy out there, it’s a disaster,” Stef-Praun said of the events in Ukraine. “Russia feels like they own [Ukraine], but obviously they have their own language and their own culture. They are a country on their own, with their own hopes for the future and their own rights.””

Stef-Praun’s ancestry spreads throughout Eastern Europe with roots in Ukraine from her great grandparents. Like many Eastern Europeans, Stef-Praun feels that the entirety of Eastern Europe is connected on a deeper level through the common shared and lived experience of communism. The impact of the conflict isn’t contained within the borders of Ukraine and Russia, but is lived by all those who have roots in Eastern Europe.

“It’s very hard for people in the region because they sympathize with Ukraine,” Stef-Praun said. “They kind of understand the context, but there’s only limited things that they can do from a distance. Romanians are standing in solidarity with the Ukrainians and I have seen on social media and through my friends back in Romania that there are many efforts to help, even though most Ukrainian refugees go towards Poland.”

Stef-Praun has lived in America for over half her life and now is, as she put it, “half American, half from Romanian.” Despite the 22 years spent in the US, her Romanian accent remains strong.

“I do speak with an accent and you can hear it in my voice. It will stay with me to the end of my life and it will symbolize my Romanian and Eastern European heritage for ever” Stef-Praun said.

While Stef-Praun has limited family left in Eastern Europe and is not immediately impacted the war in the Ukraine, it once again reminded her and others that nothing is too far to impact you.

“One may think, oh, it’s just a tiny country, it doesn’t affect me in any way,” Stef-Praun said. “Well, maybe not today, but long term it can affect you in some way, even on a very material level. In the end, in this global world, we are all connected. The one thing we can do is try to learn more about each other, to understand how our experiences are different, but maybe also connected, and use our empathy to care about how we affect the world and others. “