US First Lady Jill Biden and Romanian First Lady Carmen Johannes visit Ukrainian students and refugee teachers at the Uruguayan School in Bucharest, Romania, on May 7th. (Susan Walsh / Pool / AFP / Getty Images)
US First Lady Jill Biden, accompanied by Romanian First Lady Carmen Johannes, visited a school earlier this morning, where they spoke with Ukrainian and Romanian teachers, talked to Ukrainian mothers and met with children.
After visiting a school in Uruguay, Biden spoke briefly with reporters before boarding a plane, discussing the emotional impact of his visit to the school and the courage of the mothers he met.
“It was so emotional, wasn’t it?” “I think the Ukrainians really know we’re with them,” Biden told reporters.
“You can see it; “These kids have really suffered,” she added. “In many ways, teachers are the glue that helps these kids deal with their trauma and their emotions and give them a sense of normalcy,” Biden said.
In a classroom, the children told Biden that they were tracking their hands and making clippings from copies of the Ukrainian and Romanian flags. At one point, a little girl approached the first lady, holding her imprint on the Ukrainian flag. Biden asked her to share her message, and an interpreter next to the girl said she said, “I want to go back to my father.”
Biden sat down at a table to talk to a group of children who, according to their teacher, were working on a picture of what a world without war would look like.
US First Lady Jill Biden and Romanian First Lady Carmen Johannes meet with teachers and refugees at the Uruguayan School in Bucharest, Romania, on May 7th. (Octav Ganea / AFP / Getty Images)
The first ladies also had a listening session with educators and refugees.
Anastasia Konovalvoa, a Ukrainian teacher who fled to Romania in March, was among those who shared her story.
“I crossed the border with my 3-year-old son and all I could think about was how to save my child from a bombed-out city,” she said. “Thank God the Romanian people were here. I don’t think even the Romanian expected that they could be so wonderful, because you don’t expect that from people. “
“We’re with you,” Biden told her. “I hope you know that,” he added later, “I think you’re really amazing.”
Biden also thanked Johannes and said the Romanian people were “heroes”.
After the listening session, they went outside, where the students sang the Romanian national anthem, followed by the song of the Ukrainian military march.
Biden is now heading to Slovakia.
This publication also includes information from pool reports.
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