On a cold, snowy morning, we arrived in Zahvizdia, a village in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast. Here, in the yard, we were greeted by a smiling Natalia and escorted to the cozy house where she has been living with her daughter Arina for about two years. Before the outbreak of full-scale war, the woman, her daughter and nephew lived in Mariupol:
"We first went to Poltava region and lived there for about two months with our children. Every week we hoped to return home. Then we moved to Kremenchuk, where we lived for almost a year. And when we realized that we had nowhere to go back to, we moved here to Ivano-Frankivsk."
Previously, Natalia worked as a singer at various celebrations: "It was not just my job, it was the kind of hobby that saved me without psychologists. That's why I loved it so much. Now I don't do it anymore, I have some problems, probably psychological ones." After moving to the Ivano-Frankivsk region, she felt the huge support of the locals, who helped her in every way they could, but not all of them, she admits.
Five-year-old Arina goes to a local kindergarten and also participates in various clubs: "Children accept her very well, she is very sociable. She immediately made contact with everyone, started speaking Ukrainian very quickly, and she likes it very much," - Natalia says with enthusiasm.
However, the problems have not disappeared, Arina is often sick, she says: "Your charitable organization helped me a lot at one time. My daughter had a bronchial asthma attack and I was completely desperate, because at that moment I could not afford to buy her medication. We turned to Ihor, a social worker, and filed a request, and he helped us get financial assistance for the child's treatment. I remember that moment when I received a notification that I had been granted the assistance, and I was immediately able to order the medicines she needed."
Ihor has been working as social worker at the Charity Fund "Yellow-Blue Wings" for about a year, but he has more than 10 years of experience in the public sector: "We work closely with the social department of the village council. I was given information that there is a Natalia and she is from Mariupol, so I immediately, of course, called her. We met and discussed the primary needs."
Ihor believes that his role as a social worker in the community is to identify vulnerable categories and structure joint work together with the social department of the village council. He chose this area not by chance, because working as a social worker in communities, he can provide qualified assistance to people.
"Most often, people apply for material or social support. That is, financial and humanitarian assistance for children, as well as support in the integration of IDP children or referral to NGOs, for psychological support or leisure activities." - says Ihor.
The project has identified and helped 50 families in the Zahvizdia community, but there are still other families in vulnerable categories: "Unfortunately, there are a lot of children of military personnel and they are under constant stress, both children and adults need psychological support."
But he is not going to stop at the achieved results, he says, he will continue to help people in the future: "For me, the most important and valuable thing is when there is a result. It is good if difficult life circumstances are eliminated or at least minimized."
For almost two years, Natalia took care of her daughter and worked with psychologists to help her overcome her trauma. She says with a smile that her daughter Arina is her biggest motivation: "I get up and go, and I know that I have to do it for her sake, so there is no time for sadness and despair."
In addition, Natalia attended a training on positive parenting, which turned out to be very useful and exciting: "I wanted to hear something new. Perhaps one of the specialists will point out some of my weaknesses in raising a child, so it was very useful. The energy coming from the trainer was exciting. I wanted to listen to him, and all the tests and exercises we went through were very meaningful to me."
Currently, Natalia is focused on her daughter's treatment, but she does not stop dreaming of victory: "Our future will be free and independent in any case. I really hope that the war will end as soon as possible and our children will be happy."
Within the project "Courage in the palms of hands“, Tdh trained and employed 16 specialists in four oblasts in the West of Ukraineю During this time, about 800 families received comprehensive individualized support, and 2 700 children received the necessary social services.
The project "Courage in the palms of hands - Strengthening the protection of internally displaced children" is implemented by the Western Ukrainian Child Protection Consortium, which includes Terre des Hommes Foundation in Ukraine, Charity Fund “PosmishkaUA” and Charity Fund “Yellow-Blue Wings”, with the support of the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.
