The Reconstruction-2022 Project: How the Caritas-Spes Ukraine Mission restores housing in the liberated territories

Since the beginning of a full-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, 140,000 residential buildings have been destroyed. Broken windows and doors, damaged roofs and broken walls are what can be restored and then people will be given an opportunity to survive the cold in proper houses. For Caritas-Spes Ukraine, the project of rebuilding damaged houses is an investment in a person, in one’s memories and way of life. This is a return to the state of being a master in one’s house and on one’s land.

Since the beginning of April, with the support of the Caritas Archdiocese of Paderborn (Caritasverband für das Erzbistum Paderborn e.V.), the Caritas-Spes Ukraine Mission has launched the Reconstruction-2022 Project, which is aimed at restoring housing in the territories liberated from the Russian invaders. The need for the participation of the RM Caritas-Spes Ukraine in the process of restoring the housing destroyed by the aggressors became obvious immediately after the beginning of the de-occupation of the North of Ukraine. In small remote villages, people were left alone with their grief, without any means to return to normal life.

The initiative on the need for such a project belongs to the parish priests of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese, who visited the de-occupied territories of Chernihiv and Kyiv regions, saw people's needs and communicated with them. The idea of ​​the Reconstruction-2022 Project, which appeared in mid-April, was supported by the Caritas Archdiocese of Paderborn. At the beginning of May, the project team began the selection of affected households and visited the first two villages of Zhytomyr region: Bazar and Selets. Then our delegation visited the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka of Chernihiv region and created an estimate of those households that need replacement of windows, doors, strengthening of the roof, or restoration of parts of the walls.

"The first two villages - Bazar and Selets of Zhytomyr region - are located within a 30-kilometer zone from Chernobyl. This area was radioactively contaminated as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986. Russian troops marched through the territories of these villages, advancing on Zhytomyr and Kyiv. Already on February 24, 2022, the Rashists shelled Selets from the Grad volley fire systems. Locals said that Russian tanks were stationed in these villages, and the Russians fired from guns at random and looted houses," said Dmytro Parubets, the Reconstruction-2022 Project coordinator.

"Sloboda is a village in Chernihiv region that used to be under occupation, having suffered significant destruction during the battles for the liberation of Chernihiv region. The village of Lukashivka in Chernihiv region was under Russian occupation for 21 days. In the Church of the Ascension, the Russians placed their headquarters and ammunition depot. After the liberation of the village, the bodies of the shot dead were found in the church. In addition, Lukashivka became famous for the Ascension Church, which was more than 240 years old and was destroyed by the enemy" - this is how Dmytro described the villages selected for the pilot launch of the project.

The team focused on helping low-income and large families, single elderly people and people with disabilities whose homes are in need of restoration.

Reconstructed and renovated houses, built with one’s own hands, give families hope for the future. We have the power in our hands to support people who lived through the experience of occupation and to hear their stories, because the building is easy to destroy, but not the memories of it. Dmytro shared a story of a family from Sloboda village, whose farm was invaded by Russian soldiers. Livestock and crops from the cellars were destroyed while people were hiding there.

"Imagine, you enter the village, and you are met by a small boy in a child-sized "camouflage" with a chevron of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a blue ribbon on his sleeve. Then his grandparents show up.

They said that the occupiers lived in their house. The old grandparents and their grandson were sent to the cellar. One day the soldiers simply threw all the food supplies out of the cellar into the cold and dragged the couches and benches there. In the house, the Russian soldiers ruined all the dishes, tore the blankets, and when they fled, they stuffed an old carpet into the tank, stole all the preserves made by the old couple, shot chickens and butchered pigs. They dug trenches right behind the house. What they left was broken walls of the house, destroyed roof and broken windows," Dmytro added.

After the first (pilot) stage of implementation of the Reconstruction-2022 Project, the team selected 12 new households in the villages of Bazar, Zavorychi of Brovary district, and Myla in Bucha district, Kyiv region. These villages were considered as a frontline during the Russian army's attack on Kyiv region. In Zavorychi, the construction team of our Mission chose several houses where old, infirm, lonely or people with disabilities live. They will repair windows, doors and strengthen roofs, and in the village of Myla they will help a woman who buried her husband and two sons, one during the war. She takes care of three grandchildren of her deceased son. The glass in her house was broken, so the builders will replace the windows and insulate the house.

Currently, the Reconstruction-2022 Project operates in four villages of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese. The plan is to expand the geography of the project to the east — on the territory of Kharkiv, Odesa and Kherson regions.

"At the moment, we are cooperating with local authorities, making lists, choosing households, making visits, measurements and calculations," Dmytro added. At the first stage of the project, 17 houses were restored. Today, Caritas Luxembourg has expressed interest in our project, and at the second stage we will select 10 households from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson regions and Bucha district.

The reconstruction will take a long time, as Ukraine is very big, and there are many problems caused by the enemy. Being a religious Mission, we cannot liberate territories, but we can go to the liberated land, so we have plans to go to the Donbas and the Ukrainian Crimea," concluded Dmytro.