The Association continues to work with refugees. Every day, teams from the centers of Mukachevo and Uzhgorod package food and hygiene kits for temporarily displaced families. And although half of the IDPs have already returned to their hometowns, work has by no means become less. Ministers constantly find new centers where displaced Ukrainians live and try to meet their needs.
On February 17, there was a trip to an Uzhgorod public school, on the third floor of which 12 families from different regions of Ukraine live. Their homes are still under occupation or were destroyed by enemy missiles, so they have nowhere to return to.
At Christmas, the ministers already visited this school: they were sharing the joyful news of the birth of Jesus Christ and giving gifts to the children. This time, the people received food and hygiene kits, New Testaments and a word of encouragement. The children were given coloring books with Bible stories with colored pencils for them.
With tears in her eyes. Testimony of a woman from Chernigov
Before the invasion, Lena's family lived in the vicinity of Chernigov, 40 km from the border with Russia and Belarus. They were among the first to hear warplanes hum in the night sky and see columns of tanks on their street. The first explosions thundered a kilometer from their house: there was a military airfield nearby.
The family spent two days in the small basement of their house. There were no large bomb-shelters nearby. When the columns of Russian troops passed, the family was evacuated to Chernihiv. All they took with them was a pillow, a blanket and documents. In one of Chernihiv school, the city authorities organized a "shelter" and the family moved in there.
“At first everything seemed to be fine. Lena says. - We had money on hand, we could buy food and necessary things. However, we could no longer return to our house, because there was severe fighting taking place. But day by day it got harder and harder. My husband had to stand in line for water by a street water well since six in the morning and up to four in the evening. In the meantime, I was standing in line for bread since 12 o'clock. They would bring 80 loaves for 450 people. Private entrepreneurs would bring it and sell for 40 UAH per loaf. Oftentimes I returend home with bare hands. The children at that time spent three days sitting in the basement.
In the first days they destroyed a bakery. Then four more. So the city was left without bread. Store shelves were empty after a few days.
“After two weeks, it was impossible to get food anywhere in the city. On the third day, a woman who lived nearby noticed that my children hadn’t eaten anything. And so she would bring a liter of soup for them every day: the usual meat broth with small noodles.
A week later, the Russians shelled the infrastructure around the city and cut Chernihiv off of electricity.
People from the school bomb shelter sought help from strangers who had generators at home. Oftentimes for free, but sometimes for a small fee. There was no chance to take a bath. “No light, no nothing. You would wake up only to realize that you don’t understand whether it’s day or night” - Lena recalled, and tears welled up in her eyes.
On March 18, the Ukrainian military advised leaving the city, but the mayor did not give any guarantees. “It’s fifty-fifty,” he said.
The only way out of the city was by bridges. All but one had already been destroyed at that time.
And so the family made the risky and difficult decision. “On March 19 at 6 am we joined a convoy. At 11:00 we were given the go-ahead to leave the city. People were rushing to our car asking to pick them up. But we didn’t have any room: three children, a woman who brought soup and two dogs in a small car.”
At 13:00 the convoy moved to Kyiv. During this time, Lena counted 66 shells on both sides of the road. “If it weren’t for my husband, who constantly reassured us, said:“ We will get out, we will get out, believe me, we will get out, ”I don’t know what would have happened to us.”
10 days after their departure, the last bridge was blown up and people living by the Dniester were surrounded without the chance to leave the city by car.
The family was evacuated to Uzhgorod. There, near the regional state administration, there was a volunteer center. They were helped and on April 3 given housing in one of the city's schools.
How long the family will stay in the school, they do not know.
In conclusion, Lena said: “This is impossible to forget. No matter how much time will pass. Psychologists still work with my youngest daughter Masha; Anya and Arseniy, thank God, are fine. However, the war made it possible to reevaluate the words of my grandmother and understand that we underestimated a lot.
Each story or testimony to people is given with difficulty. But we believe that God will heal their hearts. Most of the people the ministers met at school were happy to accept the New Testaments. Please pray for the people.
We thank the ICare project for the opportunity to support the displaced people with products in such a difficult time.
