Elmira Ablyalimova
A public figure, a Crimean Tatar from Crimea, Ukraine.
Elmira Ablyalimova is actively involved in public work, participates in initiatives to monitor the preservation of the cultural heritage on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and serves as an expert and project coordinator at the Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies.
How am I?
Before the war, I wasn’t fond of this question. It felt like a formal thing you ask when meeting up with friends, just to hear them say, “I’m good, how about you?”. But now, it’s a question about how you’re really feeling because we’re living in challenging times. We’re slowly learning to take care of ourselves and our mental health.
Photo creds: Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies
I think we’re also learning to appreciate life a little more in the small things — finding five minutes to slow down a bit, noticing autumn arriving in Kyiv, savoring the taste of coffee at a new café, breathing in the scent of an August rose, or simply watching the people around us.
But honestly, I’m okay. Even now, during an air raid alert.
It means that we are alive, we continue to work and enjoy life, and we really intend to win!
What was the time when I kept going despite being not fine?
There’s a small town called Orlovka near Sevastopol in Crimea, and there was a small bus stop there with a wall that had the words “Better to die in the field than live in captivity” written on it. At that time (before Russia occupied Crimea in 2014), I didn’t fully understand the meaning of this saying.
There have been many moments in my life when I wasn’t okay: the occupation [of Crimea — ed.] in 2014, my husband’s arrest for his pro-Ukrainian position and his long three years in prejudicial detention, a forced move away from my homeland, starting a new life in Kyiv. Then, the full-scale war. It was difficult to accept that I couldn’t put down roots anywhere other than where I consider my homeland, Crimea. I feel like a tumbleweed, unable to find my place where I can feel like the happiest person in the world. For me, that place can only be in Crimea, where my loved ones are.
Like many Ukrainians, I’ve experienced many moments when I wasn’t okay: constant shelling, having electricity for only two hours a day, seeing our prisoners of war return and not being able to look at them without tears, and hearing about rockets that are deliberately aimed at a children’s clinic, where Ukrainian children fought the most difficult disease in the world — cancer…
What drives us to keep going despite these circumstances? I think it’s that saying I saw at the bus stop near Sevastopol: “Better to die in the field than live in captivity”. The desire for freedom is what keeps us moving forward.
What gets me through difficult times?
Each time, it’s something different. Sometimes, it’s a walk, a hug from loved ones, or immersing yourself in work. And sometimes, it’s understanding the purpose, why we’re doing everything.
