Hopeful stories for you to read today
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Hi Friend,
In just a matter of months, Ukraine became the fastest and largest displacement crisis this century.
6.5 million people have now been displaced inside Ukraine, while almost 3.5 million have fled to neighboring countries to seek safety.
It's important to us that we keep you up to date on what's going on and your impact — something I've never felt like big numbers alone could accomplish.
That's why I wanted to share a few short stories and photos with you today.
I hope the next time you read about the news in Ukraine and the surrounding countries you think of Oksana, Evelina and Nataliya and remember you are helping to make a difference in one of the most dire situations in the world.
And I hope you'll join me in supporting Evelina for president. :)
Thanks as always for your continued support.
— Hank, IRC 💛
P.S. You can read more about the resilient women and children from Ukraine that we support here.
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"You know, when you leave your own home, you leave everything. Sometimes you think that everything is over. Sometimes you think... that life has stopped, but a program like this gives us hope for the future; enables us to continue living."
— Oksana, Poland
Oksana is a mother and grandmother from Sumy, Ukraine now living in Poland. Oksana and her grandson Davyd currently attend an IRC-supported Safe Healing and Learning Space (SHLS) at a cultural center. As a retired kindergarten teacher, she sees the inherent value of the SHLS for Davyd and the other children at the cultural center. "We visit lots of different places with the children. We have excursions. We have various activities going out into nature... we experience something new every day."
"I wouldn't change anything about my life. Frankly, I would only like that my family and I did not plan to live in Germany but planned to live in Ukraine. But it's cool and good here, too."
— Evelina, Germany
Evelina, 10, used to live in the east-Ukrainian city of Rubizhne, but she fled to Germany with her mother and father when the Ukraine-Russia crisis escalated. During the 2-weeks IRC summer camp called Huckepack, she made a lot of friends, but she still misses her friends from home and calls them often. She hopes that her relatives and friends are happy and that she can reunite with her cat, Lolita, who stays with her grandmother in Luhansk.
In the future, she wants to become a doctor like her parents. In her free time, she learns German on her phone. She will soon attend school in Germany but the German language sounds very unusual to her ears and so it is challenging for her to learn. If she was president for one day, she would try to make everyone happy. Evelina said she enjoys Germany, but she also hopes she and her family will return back home to Ukraine after all.
"You see, it is about what is given to someone, to spend on food, clothes and so on. You have this freedom to be able to manage things for yourself."
— Nataliya, Poland
Nataliya was evacuated to Warsaw, Poland after her home in Odesa, Ukraine, became too unsafe to live. After arriving in Poland, she started volunteering at a children's school for Ukrainian refugees to help them learn and heal through art therapy. Unfortunately, like many Ukrainian refugees forced to flee their homes to neighboring countries, Nataliya did not have access to the money she needed to pay for food, accommodations, and basic necessities when she first arrived.
Now with cash assistance, she can provide for herself and her mother while continuing to focus on helping refugee children process their trauma from the conflict.
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