Anna used to be a teacher. Now a volunteer, she joins others in their efforts to rebuild homes for individuals like herself who have lost their homes due to missile attacks.
At the beginning of the full-scale war, Anna and her son were living in Chernihiv. The city today is much calmer than it was at the start of the invasion. Back then, Chernihiv was a prime target for the Russian army. As the battle for the city raged on, indiscriminate shelling accompanied it: Russian forces striving to breach the city’s defenses targeted civilian infrastructure and residential buildings. One day, Anna’s house became the target of Russian aggression.
“When our house was hit,” recounts Anna, “the realization dawned that we had lost our home, into which we had invested so much. Accepting this was tough, so I decided not to give up and instead, took up volunteering.”
Last summer, Anna joined a volunteer organization where she helped repair homes damaged by the shelling. Despite losing her own home, she was eager to assist others who were in a similar plight. “And then,” Anna explains, “people started showing up, wanting to lend a hand.” Later, the volunteers began to rebuild her own house as well.
Anna’s home has now been partially restored. However, a significant amount of work remains to be done to rebuild her house and, ultimately, her life. As a part of the Addressing the Urgent Multidisciplinary Humanitarian Needs of Internally Displaced Persons and Conflict-Affected Populations in Ukraine project, we provided Anna with a humanitarian aid kit to support her restoration efforts.
The project is a collaborative effort with the Ukraine Response Consortium, an association of organizations that have undertaken a year-long multisectoral humanitarian intervention to meet the critical and urgent needs of the affected population in Ukraine. It is funded by the USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. Charity Foundation Stabilization Support Services is an implementing partner of CARE, a member of the consortium. The content is the sole responsibility of ACTED Ukraine/partner and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID (BHA) or the United States Government.