Our children took us here.
We used to live in Selydivskyi district while our children lived here. They bought us a house and we moved. There is gas and water supply here, and a water well. Everything is so good, very nice. We have eight grandchildren, four children and 10 great-grandchildren.
But the war has disrupted everything. In 2015, everyone wanted to leave altogether. Both the children and grandchildren lived here, because the place where our daughter and son live, Severne village, was under severe shellfire. Even at our daughter’s place, the kitchen was hit. Luckily our granddaughter saw how the kitchen caught fire, and they managed to extinguish it. The elder children left for Russia together with their kids, and the younger ones stayed here. Now the youngest son has left for Kurakhove. His son is in his second year of studies at the institute, and his daughter goes to the 10th form of school.
In 2015 and 2014, we barely lived here. Wherever you look, windows are everywhere. There is even nowhere to hide. You cannot hide under the bed either. When Grad rockets [multiple rocket launcher] were shot, we lived in the cellar.
We could not understand what those sounds of ‘ta-ta-ta-ta’ meant, and they did not stop. My daughter’s son lived not far from that area. So, they made beds in the cellar and just lived there. God forbid anybody ever sees it! I was born during the war time and now there is war again. There is war, and war, and war all the time...
I have diabetes. No one in my family ever had it. It developed because of stress. I am very sick. I suffer from osteochondrosis and my legs have given out. Maybe I feel so bad because of the diabetes. We were sitting in the kitchen and an explosion thundered. So, no sleep until the morning. You don’t know where to run and where to hide. The most important thing for us is that there is no war.
We hope only for peace, so that we could live safely and freely, and not the way it is now, when we live in fear. A truce seems to be announced, but we still hear it rumbling. Mayorsk is eight kilometres from us. It’s not far.
We hope for the better. I would like my grandsons and granddaughters to enter [universities]. I would like my grandson to graduate. I hope everything will be fine with us. I want to live on for a while, till I see my great-grandchildren. We have ten great-grandchildren. I want more, for our family to keep growing, so that there are many of us.
Most importantly, we are waiting for peace. This is the most important thing for us.
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