Rachel, who lives in Ireland with her family, assumed the war would be economical and not physical, saying: "I was speaking to some of my friends and we were sure that this was going to be an economic war rather than a physical war seeing as we've just come back from COVID ... we were so sure that Russia wouldn't do this as it's a war that would be coming out of tax payers money in such a difficult comic time, it'd make no sense"

The student shared how even her university lectures told her to stay put: "when I'd ask my university head they'd say it was business as usual, things are going on and they were hoping that it was another hoax that the Russians have pulled". 

Rachel and her family are Christians, attending a church in Ireland. When Muyiwa asked if there were any songs or scriptures that helped her through the terror the worship leader shared how it was "the peace of God" that kept her calm, as well as Bible passages such as Psalm 91 and songs from one of the gospel industries top musicians: "Psalm 91 is the go to, I was reading that as much as I could and the scripture 'no weapon formed against me shall prosper', there's also a song by Fred Hammond called 'No Weapon' so I was listening to that.

The reason I stayed so calm was because I was given peace by God, in situations a lot of people would'nt act as calmly as I did or would have a lot of fear but for the most part I felt very at peace and I felt assured that the grace of God was over me ... He wouldn't fail me in my darkest hour"

Watch the full interview here:

Many people out in Ukraine who were there to work or study found themselves in a terrifying situation when Russia invaded the country. Not knowing what to do or the severity of what was to come, they were forced to make a difficult decision on whether to leave or stay to endure a war they didn't yet understand, one of those people was medical student Rachel Diyaolu.