Christmas in Ukraine
An end of year message from KHARPP
The world feels a very different place since our last update two months ago, with the situation on the front in Ukraine having significantly worsened in this time. In our villages, people continue with their lives, hunkering down for the winter months.
As our last newsletter mentioned, this autumn we began work in Kam’ianka, in the east of Kharkiv Oblast. This week we visited the village, going to see the houses we had completed and organising the delivery of firewood for the winter months, generously provided to us by Habitat for Humanity.
Kam’ianka is in a noticeably worse state than even the most damaged villages we had worked in previously. Driving into the village, it is impossible to believe that anyone still lives there, with every house seemingly destroyed. However, as almost three years of war has taught us, even the most destroyed settlement will always have some people left in it: those too old, disabled, or frightened to leave, and those forced to come back, either out of poverty or simply a desire to return home. Currently, Kam’ianka has a population of 90 residents, with the vast majority of the pre-war population of over 1000 still unable to return home. Many, however, are based in Izium, which is only a few kilometres away, and regularly return to tend to their gardens (which they have generally demined themselves). Though the village is now peaceful, having gone over two years since it was last hit, nonetheless the residents continue to live with the traumas they underwent in those first six months of war, where sixty of their neighbours died.
One such neighbour was Olha’s elder son, who was killed when a rocket hit the house he sat in with his mother, father, and brother during the second week of the war. Olha has remained in Kam’ianka, moving into her son-in-law’s house on the other side of the village. The locals call this part of the village ‘little Switzerland’, because of the hills which overlook it and the river which run through it. The house she moved into, whilst in a better state than that which she left behind, nonetheless didn’t have a single window. We are incredibly pleased that we have been able to provide Olha, her husband, and her younger son (who has been left disabled following the strike which killed his brother) with warmth this winter, both through the provision of new windows and enough firewood to see them through the coldest months.
Similar horror stories exist throughout Kam’ianka. Zina, another resident who we provided with both wood and windows, was born in the village. In her twenties she moved to Mariupol, where she married and had a son. She and her husband separated, and when her son grew up he joined the army. He was still serving in 2022, when the full-scale invasion began, and was taken into Russian captivity, where he remains. Fleeing Mariupol, Zina first moved to Pokrovsk, in the west of the Donetsk region. This summer, with the frontline moving towards Pokrovsk at an alarming rate, she packed her bags and moved again, this time back to Kam’ianka, to the house where she was born.
Before the war, Kam’ianka was a farming community, and the majority of residents kept livestock. The heavy shelling at the start of the war saw almost all the village’s animal population killed, and several residents have converted what were once barns into homes. Polina and her husband are two such residents, and invited us to have lunch with them in their barn, which they have spent the last six months making inhabitable. We are very pleased to have been able to provide the windows as the finishing touch, as well as firewood for the winter.
Our work in the village has been made possible through the unwavering commitment of one local resident, Larysa, who dedicates her time, totally unpaid, to ensuring that her neighbours receive the aid they need to survive. Larysa was born in the village, and has lived there her entire life, with the exception of the first year of the war, when she fled to Odesa. Having returned home she found her house totally destroyed after a direct hit by a missile. She and her husband spent six months rebuilding it themselves. Tragically, exactly a year ago her husband was in a horrific car accident outside the village, which has left him paralysed from the waist-down. Larysa is now his full-time carer, as well as looking after all her neighbours. To be able to work alongside people like her is honestly an honour, and an important reminder that what we are doing, whilst important, is nothing compared to the sacrifices being made by Ukrainians every day as they support their communities.
Beyond this, the start of our work in Kam’ianka has once again shed light on the extent of suffering that has been unleashed on Ukraine. For every home repaired, there are a hundred which remain broken and destroyed. Yet, it has also shown us how much we can still help. For now, we can proudly say that, thanks to your donations, there is not a single resident of Kam’ianka living without windows. In the face of this level of horror, it is easy to feel powerless, but we hope that we have provided Kamianka’s residents with a small piece of comfort and warmth.
This week, we have additionally been travelling around Derhachi. The situation there has improved hugely since the summer, and a semblance of peace seems to have returned, but there are still numerous families living without windows in freezing conditions. We have collected a list of houses where we hope to complete repairs before the new year and will begin taking measurements next week.
Away from rebuilding, we’d also like to express huge thanks to Charlbury St Mary’s, who have fundraised for a replacement vehicle for the administration in Slatyne, after the attack on their office in summer destroyed theirs. We will be purchasing the vehicle next week.
As we approach Christmas and New Year, the weather in Ukraine has dropped well below freezing. Much of the country is without electricity, and the situation at the front is worsening on a daily basis. Being able to provide the small respite in people’s lives that we do is an honour and a privilege. More and more, the feeling that it is not just the wood or the windows that is transformative, but the knowledge that people abroad care about them, and that, even after almost three years of full-scale war, people still want to help them. Thank you all so much for sticking with us thus far. This Christmas, please consider donating to continue to support these communities into 2025.
Зі різдвом! Merry Christmas!
Thank you all so much for helping these communities and for telling their stories. We've been in the south over the last couple of weeks, in some villages left as badly damaged as Kamyanka. It is so heartbreaking to see so much destruction and loss. Thank goodness for organisations like yours which are actually doing the work when the big agencies are nowhere to be seen!