Chehodaieva Alina, 16 years old

Winner of the 2024 essay contest, 1st place

Kharkiv Humanitarian and Pedagogical College

Teacher who inspired to write an assay - Heidel Alla Mykhailivna

 

«1000 days of war. My way»

A thousand days of war is a whole life filled with fear, pain, loss and indescribable emptiness. The war took a lot from me: friends, a house, childhood.

But most of all it took my family – my mother, grandmother and sister. They are no more, each new day without them seems like an endless test.

My journey through these 1000 days of war began when our village was captured by troops. The occupied village became black and white, without bright colours, without laughter on the streets, without usual life. At first I could not believe that this was not a bad dream, that the war was now a part of our lives.

I was 14 years old, I did not know what would happen next, but even then I felt that nothing good was waiting for me.

The occupation lasted for eight long months, during which our town was isolated from the outside world. My mother, grandmother and sister and I tried to stay together. My father lived in another house of ours at that time.

Mom always said: “The main thing is not to despair, we will survive this.” She was strong, she supported us, even when it became very difficult. Her faith that everything would change for the better helped me not to break.

We lived without power and heat, listening to the explosions outside the window. Mom taught me to sleep, pressed against the wall, away from the windows in case a shell hit our house. Every night I fell asleep with fear, but also with the hope that tomorrow it would all be over and we would be safe.

On September 6, there were loud explosions, we heard russian tanks firing back, and only then did we learn that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were standing on the other side of our village. On September 7, our village was liberated.

I thought that this fear had disappeared, that we would be safe with my family. But October 5, 2023 was a special day. My mother, grandmother, and sister went to a cafe to honour the memory of our friend, a soldier who died at the front. I stayed home because I had online classes. This incident saved my life.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion – an Iskander missile flew into our village and hit the cafe where my mother, grandmother, and sister, as well as 56 other villagers, were. My mother and sister died on the spot. My grandmother survived and was taken away by an ambulance. Six days later, she died in the hospital.

It was the most terrible thing I have ever experienced. With one explosion, the war took everything that was most precious from me. I was left completely alone. My father was in the hospital because of a wound he received at the front.

I didn’t know how to keep on living. That evening, I felt like the world had collapsed forever.

My uncle arrived the next day. We stuck together and helped each other get through the first days after the tragedy. About a month later, my father came back from the hospital, and we were able to be together. This gave me strength.

My father always said that we should hold on for the sake of those we lost. I tried to find the strength to live on, despite the immense pain.

On March 18, 2024, another test occurred. A missile hit our house. Fortunately, I was not home that day. This incident saved me, but I lost the dog that my sister had left me. Our house was destroyed, nothing was left of it.

This was another blow to me. Everything I knew and loved was crumbling before my eyes.

My father and I moved to another house on a different street. Despite the losses, we must hold on and live on. I often think of my mother, grandmother, and sister. Their absence will always be a wound in my heart, but I know that they would have wanted me to continue moving forward.

It's hard, sometimes it seems like I have no strength left, but every new day I try to live for them.

My path through these 1000 days of war is a path of pain, loss and constant struggle. I lost almost everything that was important in my life, but I also realized how important it is to appreciate every moment, every loved one.

Life has taught me to be strong, even when it seems that there is nothing to lean on.

I dream of the day when the war ends and we can live in peace again. I don't know what this future will be like, but I know that I will fight for it, for myself, for my family, for everyone who was taken by the war.