“...And this faith has given us strength all this time”

That August morning in 2022, a black line divided the lives of Natalia and her son Mykhailo in Kharkiv into “before” and “after.” A Russian missile hit the dormitory where the family lived and hit the spot where the mother and son were standing. “During an air raid, we are always advised to move away from the windows, and we did,” Natalia recalls, ”We went into the room, and the missile hit from above, right above our apartment... And together with the building, we flew down from the 4th floor...”

But God was obviously with them, Natalia says. “He saved their lives. However... Natalia suffered a complex spinal injury. Mykhailo was unconscious for four days after severe injuries. Returning to reality and restoring their health was very difficult for both of them. In fact, it is still ongoing. After a complicated surgery, the woman learned to walk again. Now she has 10 screws in her spine. After that terrible accident, Mykhailo began to stutter and suffers from bouts of aggression. He also needs constant medical care. 

Now the family lives in a small apartment offered by good friends. Only the facade of their dormitory remains intact. Inside, everything is destroyed, and Natalia does not know when it will be restored or whether they will be able to return to their home. “The authorities said we will rebuild after the war,” she adds sadly. And she shows the eerie images of the ruins saved on her phone. “Here, you see, my curtain is hanging... And here, under this rubble, my son and I were... My godmother's child - she is 14 years old - died here... We lived next door to them. And another child is still being treated in Germany after that “arrival”. Doctors had to put her heels back together in pieces.”

Natalia is 48 years old, Mykhailo is 22. Before the war, she worked as a tram driver. She says it was her dream since childhood. “I am originally from Luhansk region. My mother's sister lived in Kharkiv, and we used to visit her every year during the holidays. Back then, I decided that I wanted to live in Kharkiv, and I fell in love with this city with all my heart. I also fell in love with trams. I knew I would drive them.”

Natalia smiles as she recalls her first meeting at the tram depot. She says she was young and bold, because right after school she came and said, “I want to work for you! “So you've already graduated from college, you know how to drive a tram?” they asked during a spontaneous ”interview.” “Oh, so it also need to study?” the girl was surprised. “Come back when you learn,” she received business advice instead.

And so, after completing her training course, Natalia drove Kharkiv trams from the age of 18. She raised her son on her own, and Mykhailo grew up to be a kind, purposeful boy. After high school, he entered the institute and studied to become a clerk. Today, the young man helps his mother with household chores and watches anime in his free time. This is his way of distracting himself from the disturbing reality. He also tries to calm his mother down – he tries to be there for her when she starts to worry. “In our city, there are constant bangs,” Natalia sighs, ”Every night, as soon as the siren goes off, I start shaking. And when I hear explosions, I'm really shaking...”

“The support from the Family to Family project was like a lifeline for us,” Natalia says. Thanks to these funds, the mother and son covered the costs of treatment and rehabilitation, and were able to buy food, shoes, and household chemicals. Natalia's disability pension is very small. She is not yet able to return to work – her health does not allow it. Although this is her dream: she says she often dreams that she is back on the tram. 

Do you plan to leave the city for a safer region? “We haven't left Kharkiv since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression,” she replies, ”We will stay here... Our neighbors have been sitting in the subway for quite a long time since the first days of the war, hiding from the shelling. And as soon as they got out and returned home, they were hit... What can I say? You can't escape fate. But we believe in the best. This faith has kept us going and given us strength all this time.”