Stories that you confided to us
We came from Donetsk as IDPs. In Sviatohirsk we were well received and were given a shelter. There is a war in Donetsk and there are no conditions for living at home. Here you don’t see shells landing and the kids remain calm and make studies.
There were some explosions and the child was crying. Some people went to a bomb shelter. Some people stayed in the corridor, in the stairwells because we have no basement in our building. We have nowhere to hide, and while you run up somewhere, you can simply be killed.
We live on the seventh floor and we have one wall that came off. It is a prefab apartment block. So, one wall, one concrete slab moved, came off by one and a half centimetres. So, there will be the window of the size of the wall. The windows shattered; they were blown out. We disassembled the sofa in order to block the window because we could not buy any construction materials. Nothing was available in the town. Even the plastic film, we wanted to get it from somewhere, but we could not get it.
I recall a burnt down minibus with people staying at the bus-stop. All these events are very scary, generally speaking. A gas pipeline exploded in the yard because it was hit by a shell. The windows were blown out and the walls came off.
We asked for help. At first, people were accommodated all together in some recreation facilities. We were provided with a housing: a living room, an entrance room and a bathroom, well a shower and a toilet too. We are thankful for that! We had been without money for eight months. We were not getting anything. We received help from various charitable organizations like Rinat Akhmetov’s and the UN.
In January 2016, our second child was born. We were getting child benefit payments, while the targeted assistance was delayed. We received it only a month ago. So, at first, we had nothing to live on. We were getting help in the canteen, we were fed, but only once a day. We get the main food at home.
We want to come back home very much. We got used to everything there. Our dear home, home ground. Everything was there, from childhood. Our loved ones stayed there too. Many relatives whom we see very rarely. Last time we saw each other eight months ago. We want peace, calm and quiet, so that our kids could develop and enjoy life.
When quoting a story, a reference to the source – the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation – is mandatory, as follows:
The Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/
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