‘It makes me feel really happy every time I see the children smile.’ Mariia Toma left Ukraine in 2012, long before the war erupted. ‘I came to Belgium to visit a friend but I then enjoyed it so much here that I decided to stay.’ She is now hoping that her qualifications will be granted equal status, so that she can work here as a primary school teacher. Mariia is currently working in a residential care home in Asse.