Amidst trials and hardships, Kherson region preserves stories of resilience and hope ✍️ 

👤We present to you the story of Liudmyla from Myroliubivka.

"I am Liudmyla from the village of Myroliubivka.

On the day of the full-scale invasion at 7 AM, my mom called with the message: 'The war has begun.' I didn't want to believe it. Relatives and friends were there. I didn't believe it until the very end.

We managed to leave only two months later. My child was 3 years old at the time. We didn't have our own car. My husband's parents were looking for possible 'corridors,' arranging details with people. Eventually, they moved in with us because Russian soldiers had stopped on their street — it became dangerous there.

Spring was coming, the war too, and we bought vegetable seeds. We decided to plant. If we left, at least there would be something for those who stayed in the village. My husband and I worked in the garden, and the grandparents played with the child in the yard. Suddenly, three armed Russian soldiers entered our yard.

My mother-in-law and I are teachers. Of course, we had computers with information. So, we had prepared old phones and SIM cards for checks in advance. But my mom was very scared for the child and that they might find something. From the stress, she couldn't even speak for a while.

I had to give my computer and old phone for checking. They returned them. But after that, we seriously started thinking about leaving. There was no electricity in the village; water was pumped from stations. When the opportunity arose, we contacted our relatives.

My godmother lived in Velyka Oleksandrivka. She said she was planning to leave for Easter. When we found out they had succeeded, it became a bit calmer. We left on April 30, 2022. The journey was long — detours, fields, almost 500 kilometers. And on May 1, we were in a safe place.

We returned home after de-occupation — on October 8, 2022. In the summer, from June to August, we taught children remotely to compensate for the knowledge gaps.

You see, in the village, there's no opportunity to earn; everyone gets by as they can. After the occupation, people need to fix their houses. Every penny has to be counted: whether to install windows or buy a tablet for the child? And a tablet is huge support for both children and parents. We are very grateful to you for this."

The project is implemented within the EMPOWER project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) jointly with the European Union and implemented by GIZ Ukraine.

#EMPOWER_BMZ_EU #EU_Humanitarian_Aid #Resilient_society_GIZ