On 11 September 2014, when the war began, we tried to leave the town and got caught by gun fire.
It thundered everywhere then. Shells were falling on the streets and into residential houses. We did not go out from our apartment for a week. We could not go outside.
When it all calmed down, we got into the car. But we did not manage to leave Shchastia, and when we were in the wood line, we were fired at from both sides. The entire car was like a sieve. The eldest daughter’s head was cut by either a shell fragment or a bullet, and a fragment got stuck in her leg, in the ankle. We all remained alive, but those who came after us, they all died.
This was some miracle because our entire car was hit. It was in holes all over, completely damaged.
Our daughter lived with a bullet in her bone for 8 months. It could not be taken out and the bone was rotting. She had operations and a treatment course. There are still some consequences. Well, her leg hurts. There are some psychologic issues. Well, it is much better now. Earlier, we slept only together. I could not leave her alone. She is afraid of loud sounds.
When we got to the rehabilitation course for the first time, it was in Zaporizhzhya, we had a psychologist. Albina stuttered and they helped us. Now everything is fine, thank God. But if there is a thunderstorm, thunder, she associates it all with shelling.
We ourselves could not afford to come somewhere for rehabilitation. It is expensive. Many of our people are now unable to pay for rehabilitation. Far not everyone can afford even travelling somewhere.
Now, the daughter walks better. Before that, she did not put her toe right. Now she is good, thank God, we even go to the choreography classes. The scar is almost not visible anymore. We really rested here. We are not worried. We are going to return now. We are going to again adapt to the life that we had. We will continue to live on.
I wish that peace could come as soon as possible. I want to live normally and do not want to be scared. I would like to raise the kids, to give them a proper education, so that they are well educated.
Our life was divided into before and after. Earlier, we could basically afford to go somewhere, say for at least 10 days, but now the situation has changed. Both the work and the emotional state, the state of mind in general. I don’t want to go anywhere far from here. It is difficult – the checkpoints, it is uncomfortable and long. We just live, we simply live on.
We have three kids and they are all small. Albina is the eldest. It is difficult to go somewhere. Moreover, here is our house, our school, kindergarten. Everything is close and it is convenient. We are afraid to go. We tried to leave the town once and got under the fire. So, now we do not dare to, so far. Well, to be frank, we have nowhere to go.
Many people returned and there are many IDPs. Sometimes it happens that shells hit the roofs. Literally about two months ago there was a direct hit into one apartment. Just near the checkpoint. A woman just went out of the kitchen and the shell hit there. Nothing was left in her kitchen, everything was damaged. The roofs were hit too. People just repaired the roofs, but they were hit again.
Our daughter had two surgical operations. They could not take the fragment out. Thanks to the third operation, it all started to heal up quickly. But before that I carried her in my arms. She was jumping on one leg then and was not going to the kindergarten. Now everything is fine, everything has returned to normal.
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