ShelterBox humanitarian aid packages were collected according to people’s requests. We have formed separate sets with dishes, hygiene, repair tools and sleeping things. Some of the boxes were heavy and bulky. Therefore, some humanitarian aid is being delivered to the addresses of those in need. Community foundations that are members of the National Network for the Development of Local Philanthropy are doing this on the ground.
The Boyarka Community Foundation delivered the aid to the village of Zhornivka. An 80-year-old woman, Galina, lives there with her 9-year-old granddaughter, Victoria. The girl’s parents were killed by Russian soldiers in the village of Mykulychi.
- “The Russians just came in and shot us in the house. My daughter worked in a hospital, and my son-in-law worked at a factory. They were there (in the village of Mykulychi – ed.), and the children were with me.”
For 2 years now, Viktoriia has been living with her grandmother. It is impossible to get into her parents’ house, where she is registered, because her father’s first wife changed the locks. Ms. Halyna says she has no legal grounds for this.
- “Even the service did not know that he (the head of Mykulychi village – ed.) did not call, write, or say anything about my grief. That I have no children. He took advantage of the fact that I live far away. My grandmother is old, she thinks she doesn’t understand anything. You can do whatever you want. I asked him where are the documents? “I gave them to him. He said, “Whoever came first gave it to me.” Do you understand? And it’s been two years now.
Ms. Halyna cannot single out what was the most useful of the humanitarian aid she received, because, like a good housewife, everything works in her household.
- “Thank you very much for everything you gave me. It all goes to the farm. I made those mattresses. My child sleeps, and so do I. Whatever frying pan you give me goes to the farm. Thank you very much, very much. I personally, in my life, have never asked for anything from anyone. I built the house myself. I made everything with my own hands. I know where every nail is nailed in my house.”
Ms. Halyna wants her granddaughter to get her parents’ house. The grandmother has an action plan, but her options are limited.
“I need to hire a lawyer to prove all this. Why, my dear, would I hire a lawyer? For my 3 thousand pension that I get? Well, my child got 4. And I need to buy something to eat for school. And I need shoes for my child. That’s what they say, so that he doesn’t walk like children – at least he walks like children.”
In the meantime, Halyna takes her granddaughter to school in a neighboring village, and after school she goes to taekwondo classes.
- “I look at these children… how much longer can I do this? Let me live for a year, let me live for two. And then, my children, what will happen to you? She doesn’t know how to defend herself. She feels sorry for everyone, and her grandmother feels sorry for everyone, and so does she. So I sent her to taekwondo and asked for a teacher: “Teach her,” I said, “so that she can defend herself. Because I will not always be there for her. And she, the girl, has to stand up for herself.”
The team of the National Network for the Development of Local Philanthropy provided Ms. Halyna with contacts of free legal services and, thanks to the Boyarka Community Foundation, keeps in touch.
