In October 2022, with the support of international partners, the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya opened the doors of the Uzhhorod shelter, one of three that the organization takes care of in the region. For almost 10 months, the "PrykhystOK" has become a temporary second home for several dozen mothers with children from the regions affected by Russian military aggression. We continue to tell the stories of those who fill our facility with life here and now.

This time we are describing the story of Oksana Vasylyeva (52 years old, Kharkiv), who has recently settled in the Uzhhorod shelter with her 7-year-old son Matviy.

– This is not my first time in Uzhhorod. At the beginning of the war, in March 2022, I left Kharkiv and came here because I felt that it was safe. I immediately applied for IDP status. For almost three months we have lived with my son in a shelter organized by a religious community. There were more than 30 of us there, living in one large room, but given the circumstances, everyone was happy with everything. As soon as the security situation in my hometown improved, I returned home. We heard shots, a rocket hit a gas station not far from our house... And again, out of fear that the next time a missile might hit us, we left home.

In Kharkiv, Mrs. Oksana has worked in trade all her life, selling seasonal clothes at the market. Although this was her main occupation, the woman clarifies that she "never worked in a normal job – in an office or in an institution". Obviously, this clarification is due to social stereotypes that the saleswoman has repeatedly encountered. In Uzhhorod, she is with her younger son, for whom she is very worried, but she also has older children who have already started to live their own independent lives.

– We came to Uzhhorod for the second time. It turned out that there are big problems with renting housing here – there is not enough of it and it is prohibitively expensive. We have lived at the train station for a few days. It was uncomfortable and very cold because of the drafts. The child did not sleep, I even more so. There were no conditions, you understand. And then there were health problems. To top it all, my teeth started to hurt, so I went to the dentist. I believe that the coincidence of circumstances and the people I met because of those circumstances were sent to me by God, and I ended up at the "PrykhystOK". The fact is that the doctors treated me with understanding and compassion, took my phone number, and promised to help me in some way. And they helped, called me and gave me the contacts of the shelter, where I was invited for an interview. Honestly, I asked to be allowed to stay just for a day, so that the child could sleep, take a shower, and put ourselves in order, because we were completely exhausted after four days at the train station. You can't imagine how happy and just a salvation it is that we are finally in human conditions. We were living normally at home, we had everything until the war happened...

Mrs. Oksana keeps in touch with her neighbors and is very worried about her house, that it will survive and wait for their return. Despite the fact that people in Kharkiv have become accustomed to shelling over the year and a half of active hostilities, this has not increased their sense of security. According to the woman, many of her friends and relatives left the city, mostly for foreign countries. In Uzhhorod, having received temporary housing, the woman from Kharkiv takes care of her health and son. She says that the war has hit her nerves, which in turn have activated her old diseases. The hospital where she was systematically treated for asthma was bombed​.

– February 24 is my birthday. Last year, for the first time, it was without a cake, without guests... The day when the full-scale war began, I was torn out of my life, and there was no time for celebrations... I don't want to have such memories, I want to go home. If someone said tomorrow that we had won, I would immediately go to Kharkiv.