The Lord brought us out of the shellings: life story of an IDPs family
The story, shared with us on Telegram, cannot but touch your heart. An ordinary Ukrainian family went through the real hell of war, but with God's help managed to get out of it. Caritas-Spes Ukraine is glad to help them start a new life.
"Our life changed on February 24, probably like the life of every Ukrainian. That night I was working in the shop, receiving goods. When the explosions started, I ran outside in terror, immediately started calling my husband, because our house is not far from the military unit. At 5:30 a.m. my husband came to my work place with our sleepy children. They had been waiting in the car for more than eight hours until I sold almost all the goods, handed over the store and the money to the management. The evening of February 24 we spent in the basement, and by the next morning, there was no electricity, water, or gas in our house.
The youngest daughter came down with bronchitis, so we decided to go to the city and find at least some pharmacy to buy antibiotics. Under the whistle of flying shells, we were turned around at the checkpoint. I remember how I prayed in those days, called upon the Lord to save us from the bombing and heal our daughter. We were in the basement day and night. Then my husband found a small stove, and we set up a heater. When it was quiet, my husband chopped firewood, and I carried water. I was so glad that the children were warm and I could prepare food.
We got used to the hail of enemy fire, cluster bombs, which our village was constantly bombarded with. However, the most terrible thing was aircrafts, as every night a fighter plane was flying above us for a long time. One day, a bomb fell a hundred meters away from our house. My husband and I were deafened and had a feeling of water in our ears for five days.
Somehow we still dared to leave. We knew that the Russian military would shoot civilians' cars upon entering the city and that an attack could happen at any moment. But we managed to pass with our children lying under the seats in the car, holding their breath. On our way we saw shot cars, but we were lucky, as the Lord led us out. We arrived in Cherkasy, rented a house and, having spent two months there, decided to return home. It became calm in our town, and we thought that the worst was over.
We didn't even spend a month at home and were forced to leave it again. An aerial bomb exploded a hundred meters away from our house. We felt the whole power of the explosive wave on ourselves. Our oldest daughter was frightened, she started running, fell and broke her leg on her way to the basement. She was operated on in a hospital with partially no glass in the windows. I was waiting for her to wake up from the anesthesia in a crowded corridor to the sound of explosions, keeping her in my arms. It is a terrible feeling of fear for the children and pain for what is happening... Immediately after being discharged from the hospital, we bought train tickets and arrived in Kamianets-Podilskyi. This is our story. Thank God for you. Thank you for your help, it is very much needed."
P.S. If you want to tell your story and share your experiences, so that it is easier to survive the pain, and our foreign partners know about the realities of the brutal war in Ukraine, please reach us out in Telegram, phone number +38096 218 48 70. We will change your personal data if you wish. Caritas-Spes Kamianets-Podilskyi is grateful to everyone for your openness of heart.
You can send your story of experiencing the war and supporting Caritas people in private messages to the Caritas-Spes Ukraine profiles in social networks. At your request, your personal data will be changed. We are looking forward to and thank you in advance!
