Johan Nel, 25, left South Africa last October to tour the world and eventually meet his parents in Istanbul, Turkey, to celebrate his birthday in January. A week after his parents left, Nel decided to continue his travel adventure by going to Ukraine. A decision he would regret in the past week. Three weeks after his stay in the Ukraine, the young man from Strand, Cape Town, who taught English online for a Mexican school, was awakened in the early morning hours by the sound of bomb sirens. In conversation with…
Johan Nel, 25, left South Africa last October to tour the world and eventually meet his parents in Istanbul, Turkey, to celebrate his birthday in January.
A week after his parents left, Nel decided to continue his travel adventure by going to Ukraine. A decision he would regret in the past week.
Three weeks after his stay in the Ukraine, the young man from Strand, Cape Town, who taught English online for a Mexican school, was awakened in the early morning hours by the sound of bomb sirens.
Speak with The The throwdowntv from the Hungarian capital Budapest, Nel shared the harrowing story of how he managed to flee the Ukraine while dodging bombings, hitchhiking, and was slightly discriminated against for “looking Russian”.
Day 1 – Russia attacks Ukraine
Nel’s main reason for going to Ukraine, besides traveling, was that his Mexican work visa application in Istanbul was unsuccessful due to a communication barrier with the official who interviewed him.
“I went to Ukraine on a tourist visa. I left Istanbul for Kiev to apply for my Mexican work visa because I am employed by a Mexican school and I have been working online for the past few months.”
But last Thursday morning at 4:30 a.m. Nel said he had been awakened by the sounds of bombing.
“I heard bomb sirens everywhere and I heard bombings, and I knew immediately what was going on. I tried to evacuate myself the first day, but it was not possible because there was chaos. Trains were full, buses were full, taxi drivers charged thousands of dollars to take you to the border, so it was impossible.”
ALSO READ: ANC and DA at odds over Russian invasion of Ukraine
Day 2 – Nel finds an escape partner
After realizing that the evacuation process would be intense and required a strategy, Nel said he decided to stay in his apartment. Due to the looming conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a group of foreigners had already started a group on Telegram to cooperate if Russia attacked.
“I tried to leave again, but I couldn’t get any trains or buses. So I stayed at home.
“The South African embassy contacted me and told me to go to Poland, Romania or Hungary. At the time, I’m in this Telegram group, which was created to help each other when a war breaks out. I found a British-Pakistani subject, Murtaza Hameed. He is alone, I am alone, so on the third morning we decided to meet at the Volkzana metro station in the center of Kiev.”
Day 3 – 30 hours waiting to reach the border
The pair met at the prearranged location of the subway station, but again, they struggled to leave, Nel said.
“Every ten minutes we would have to take cover because bomb sirens would go off and Russian jets would fly over our heads. It was crazy.”
Nel and his new friend came up with a plan B. This would involve a taxi ride to the border. At that point, the taxi driver decided to charge them $1000 for the trip. With the Ukrainian currency, the Hryvnia, falling, the pair split the bill, but ended up getting more than expected.
“Now we had to pay the taxi driver 42,000 Hryvnias. But we paid him. It would normally take about seven to eight hours to get to the border with Poland, but with all the traffic and everyone going that way, it took us 22 hours instead. We had enough water and enough food, but along the way we had to give our water and food away to children, elderly women and single mothers. We felt we were young and healthy and they needed this more than we did.”
22 hours later, the couple arrived at the border. But their act of kindness left them stranded when they arrived at a 30km line of cars waiting to cross the same border. After finding out that they would have to wait between 70 and 90 hours to reach the border, Nel and his friend decided to rather walk the long distance.
Emptying their bags and throwing out their belongings to lighten their luggage, Nel and his friend began their 14-hour hike to the Polish border.
Unfortunately, the two lost each other along the way. Instead, Nel met two South African girls, who accompanied him on the long walk to safety until they reached the first checkpoint – which he also described as chaotic.
He said some people had camped at that border for three days and nights without water, food or toilets.
“There was discrimination and racism everywhere. Border police hit a Nigerian with a Kalashnikov in the face. They would cock and point the gun in front of you, threatening you. I met two South African girls and we entered the first checkpoint. I had lost British-Pakistani subject Murtaza.”
After passing the first checkpoint and walking two to three kilometers to the actual border, only women and children were allowed to pass. Nel told the girls to leave him behind.
“Their safety was important. One of them was injured in the hip after being kicked by one of the Ukrainian guards. Her leg was also injured, so I encouraged them to just go and leave me. But after nine hours of queuing and waiting, I decided to go back to the center of Lviv as it is closer to the Polish border.”
Hitchhiking on his way there, he was picked up by ex-military Ukrainian officials who entered the country from Poland to help fight the conflict. Nel arrived safely in Lviv and received a free night’s lodging in a hotel owned by a woman known to one of his friends.
By this time he had not slept for 50 hours.
After buying himself a decent, nutritious meal, Nel said he’d had a good night’s sleep in preparation for the fourth day of his journey.
Day 4 – Change plans as Nel now targets Slovakia
Nel made his way to the Lviv train station and there he met a South African named Johnny. The pair worked together, but because of the chaos at the train station with the trains going instead to eastern Ukraine, where the Russians had occupied, they tried to take a taxi again, this time to Uzhhorod, a city close to the Slovakian and Hungarian border.
“But the taxi driver didn’t want to take us. Instead, he called a bus driver who he knew was going there, but that bus had already left. With my little knowledge of Russian and his little knowledge of English, we managed to communicate easily and he called the bus driver and told him he was going to catch up with him.”
After they finally got on the bus, aggressive Ukrainian soldiers inspected the passengers, but strongly doubted Nel’s nationality.
“At every border checkpoint, three or four military officers checked my passport over and over because they said I looked Russian. When they were on the bus, they yelled for me to show them my passport. I had to tell them I’m not Russian even though I look Russian.”
The bus eventually took them to a train station in Uzhhorod, where they eventually found a taxi to the Slovakian border. But all the walking had injured Nel’s hamstrings.
Fortunately, the medical team at the first checkpoint treated him with painkillers and rubbed pain-relieving cream on his legs. Nel and Johnny were put on a bus to the second checkpoint on the Slovakian border.
After four to five hours of waiting, the two finally reached the Slovakian border on Monday.
“The people of Slovakia accepted us with open arms and welcomed us and it was great. We then took the train to Budapest and there Johnny and I are now. We are safe and we feel safe and there are no more worries about our safety. It’s so hard to tell this story again.”
Nel plans to return to South Africa to live with his brother in Pretoria or his sister in Cape Town.
“I am coming back to South Africa for a week to stay with my big brother and from there I will get my visa for Mexico.”
South Africans feel neglected by their government
Nel said the only help he received was from South African ambassadors to Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Austria.
“The government at home has done nothing to help us. They need to stop lying to the South African media and say they are helping us because they are not.
“We have South African students in Ukraine studying for four to five years and most of them have no money because they have scholarships there, but now universities are being bombed. They have nowhere to go. They have now wasted four to five years of their lives on these studies and what will happen to them now?” said an enraged Nel.
This sentiment was shared by the South African International Student Association (SAISA), founded by Tumisang Victoria Maheso, a student in Russia.
Speak with The The throwdowntvshe said she had sent letters every day to the department of international relations and cooperation, but was instead referred to the South African embassy in Ukraine.
“They answered my second letter. The answer they gave me is that I have to put all my questions to Ambassador Groenewald, and that makes no sense because he is one of the people trapped in Ukraine. My question now is what are they doing as SA government to help the ambassador help the students in Ukraine?
“I have just decided to look for other channels to get help and good directions. We try to find help for students to help the students academically, because we don’t want graduate students to go home without something to show.”
[email protected] throwdowntv.co.za