I'm a single mum of three children. Many people have left our village. I have nowhere to run, although it is very dangerous to stay in Orlivka these days. We could hear gunshots quite often, and the houses opposite were damaged.
The biggest attack happened last winter (2015). After those events, my middle daughter Vitalina could not recover for a long time. Whenever she hears a rattling sound, she starts screaming and crying.
Our house was also damaged — the whole building is covered cracks. We often have frequent power shortages. The eldest son Oleksandr already knows what it takes to survive the cold without electricity and gas. We were without electricity for four months that year. We cooked food over a fire.
Sasha takes care of the housework and helps babysit her younger sisters. Although I dreamed to enter a college and live a normal student life in Donetsk, I had to drop out of school – it was too dangerous to cross the line of demarcation.
I am now on maternity leave. My youngest daughter is 10 months old. Now I live on one allowance. The total income per family is a little more than 1000 UAH. We survive only thanks to the farmstead.
