It's nice to be useful and needed." The story of Andrii from Kharkiv
Andrii lives in Saltivka. This long-suffering neighborhood in Kharkiv was shelled by the enemy the most and most fiercely over the past year. In fact, the first explosions woke Andrii up at five in the morning on February 24, 2022. He saw his wife's worried eyes and realized everything: it had begun from the window of their ninth floor, they could see the fire: somewhere on the outskirts of the city, fires were raging, explosions were not subsiding. Their house was shaking and shuddering from that terrible rumble. So the family decided to stay with friends for a while - they lived on the first floor in a neighboring house. Later, there were several families staying there. Supporting each other at that time was very important: when you are in a group, fear is not so intrusive, and it is easier to survive a common misfortune.
Despite what was happening in the city, Andrii had to get to work. He is a police officer, and they were all alerted that day. The management gathered the staff and immediately warned them frankly: those who were afraid could put down their IDs and leave. But no one did. Everyone was ready to stand up for their city and their families.
"My wife did not agree to the evacuation for some time - she did not want to leave me alone, because I was not going to leave the city anyway. But in the end, I managed to convince her that she and our four-year-old daughter had to leave Kharkiv. It was dangerous to stay any longer - the shelling did not stop. "When the enemy plane flies and drops bombs on the city, you start counting - one, two, three, four - to ten. This is the amount of time you have to hide somewhere. And then there are explosions. I covered my wife and daughter and hoped only for God. Because you never know where it will land and whose house will be next... So when my family was safe, I was relieved."
In those days, many people left. It was strange to see how quickly the once large and lively city was emptying out. How it plunged into darkness every evening - the windows of its houses no longer flashed with bright lights, no longer were filled with home comfort and children's laughter.
At some point, their lively apartment became completely empty, as everyone left in search of a safer place. Andrii was left all alone. He recalls that there were only twenty people left in his apartment building, a few floors down. They were mostly pensioners and the infirm: some did not have the strength to go anywhere, and some were more afraid of this move into the unknown than of enemy bombs.
Those were the most terrible, depressing days and nights. No one could say for sure what the city would face tomorrow. Would Kharkiv, which was being destroyed without mercy by the occupiers, survive?
On February 27, the enemy's first and only breakthrough into the city took place. Andrii unwittingly witnessed those events. That day, he was walking to work (there was no more transportation). The path ran through the 134th school. It was there that the occupiers who had entered the city tried to hide. "Our military stopped me, saying, 'Where are you going? Do you see what is happening?" I showed them my ID and explained that I had to go to work," Andrii recalls. The school, which was considered one of the best in the city, was on fire, with two Tigers with the letter Z burning nearby. That was the first time I saw the war up close. Before that, my brain was still living a peaceful life, and I didn't want to believe in what was happening."
Later, Andrii himself would be one step away from death. One day, he went to the site of the shelling to document and record another rashist crime. Two hours had passed since the shelling. It was quiet and calm. The air raid sirens were silent, in short, nothing foreshadowed trouble. Suddenly, another rocket - the fourth one - hit the same spot. "It was only God Himself who saved me - I have no other explanation," says Andrii. Another scary moment was when his house was hit directly. The few residents who remained in the house went down to the first floor to the vestibule during the shelling. There were eight of them that day. The explosion occurred very close by. "If it wasn't for the wall, we wouldn't be talking now," he says.
Today, life is slowly returning to Saltivka. Some people were unable to cope with the challenges of evacuation - to find housing and work, because starting life from scratch in a new place is never easy. But here, they still have their own walls, which, although they do not guarantee protection, give them a sense of home.
Life in Saltivka can be called neither safe (shelling occurs infrequently) nor comfortable (shops and pharmacies are partially open, kindergartens and schools are closed for security reasons). There is not a single surviving house in Saltivka either - every single one has been damaged to some extent. Some houses have only burnt walls, some have no floors, some have broken windows - every house has suffered. But unlike in the early days of the war, people at least have places to hide - almost every house has basements, water, generators and everything they need to stay relatively safe.
Life in Andrii's house is also gradually returning to normal. About a third of the residents have returned home. But it is still very dangerous here. Therefore, it is out of the question for Andrii's family to return. His wife and daughter are now in Europe. They are safe, and that is the most satisfying thing. But it is not customary to talk about the other side of the coin of such a life. People say about people like them: you are safe and sound, you have a roof, do Thank God! Andrii does thank God... But the family has been separated for a year now, the daughter sees and hears her father only on the screen of his smartphone, and he is only surprised at how much his little girl has grown over the past year, how quickly she picks up foreign words! He is very sad and wants to hug his family. But there is a war between them.
Andrii devotes all his free time, which a police officer does not have much of, to volunteer work. It distracts him and even brings him pleasure. Back in the first weeks of the war, he got acquainted with the Caritas-Spes Kharkiv charity mission, which delivered humanitarian aid to the city. Trucks with the most necessary things came almost every day. There was a lot of work to be done - back then, everything was unloaded manually. Everyone was helping. That's how we got to know each other.
Then Andrii began to help deliver the aid to Kharkiv basements where people were hiding - some families had been living in basements for six months or more! People were waiting for the mission representatives with impatience, often it was the only opportunity to get food, medicine, detergents and other necessary things for life. Or to hear a kind word of support - it is also very valuable nowadays.
"Even now, when I am not working, I help Caritas-Spes Kharkiv. "At one time, it was a great distraction from loneliness," says Andrii. "I'll say more: if it weren't for Caritas, it would have been very difficult morally, because I'm not used to coming home to empty walls where no one is waiting for me... And this is like a second family - everyone became friends, supported each other in difficult times and were just there for each other."
"You should definitely write about Father Wojciech (Fr. Wojciech Stasiewicz, director of the Caritas-Spes religious mission of the Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia Diocese of the RCC in Ukraine - Ed.) "You can't even imagine the scale of the help he managed to organize for Kharkiv and other cities affected by the war. He is the main cog that keeps this huge support machine spinning. It is thanks to him that all this works smoothly: humanitarian aid arrives, it is unloaded, disassembled, packed again and delivered to people - not only in Kharkiv, but throughout the region. Despite the fatigue and risks that still abound in our region. I personally know of cases when mission volunteers have come under fire."
"It's nice to know that your help is useful to someone, that you can be useful and needed," Andrii shares with us the specifics of his volunteer work, "Father Wojciech often says, "Do a good deed and forget about it. Don't wait to be thanked. Just do it not for the sake of gratitude, but for your own pleasure." At first I didn't understand what he was talking about. But later I realized the depth of these words. People are different. There are those who are infinitely grateful and understand the value of your work. But there are also those who are constantly dissatisfied: they get something wrong, or something else... Sometimes you hear curses instead of "thank you". I'm used to not paying attention to this, because there are more grateful people. And I want to continue helping for their sake."
