«We lost more than just our home because of the war. Our roots were taken from us. But we will rebuild them – no matter what»

Participants in the “Family to Family” project, a family of internally displaced persons from Mariupol, talk about faith, the search for meaning, and “grounding” as a source of salvation in difficult times.

Their family lost everything twice. Their house, their apartment, their land, their life’s work… They were forced to leave their hometown of Donetsk in 2014, when the “russian world” came, guns in hand, to “liberate” Ukrainians from their normal lives. The second time was in the spring of 2022, after barely escaping from besieged Mariupol.

They had always loved working the land. Ms. Tetiana’s father ran his own business in agriculture – for many years, they grew vegetables, tended grapevines, and cultivated fruit and strawberries. After leaving Donetsk, they continued their work in Mariupol. But the war mercilessly destroyed their cozy, happy world.

The family’s father died in late 2021. They hadn’t even had time to recover from this painful loss when the full-scale invasion began. Tetyana still recalls with horror the hell the family had to endure in Mariupol. She also recalls the ordeal of enemy checkpoints, humiliating searches, and taunts as they tried to flee to territory controlled by Ukraine.

Today, they all live together in the village of Volodymyrtsi in the Lviv region: Ms. Tetiana with her family, her two sisters with their families, and their mother. And they are trying to rebuild their family business.

Ms. Tetiana’s husband is a war veteran. In 2023, while defending Ukraine on the front lines, he was seriously wounded. After complex surgeries and a long rehabilitation, he was able to return to normal life. Their family is raising three young children.

Thanks to a grant from the Ukrainian-Polish “Family to Family” project to support the development of their business, they were able to purchase a greenhouse and a drip irrigation system. They plan to develop the entire production cycle – from seedlings to ripe vegetables, fruits, and berries.

“I want to say a big thank you to the Polish families who support such an important project! You are helping Ukrainian families fleeing the war to ‘settle down,’ find a place to stay, and discover peace and hope,” says Ms. Tetiana. “In the stressful conditions we’re all living in right now, this is a true expression of compassionate love.”

The “Family to Family” project, which is being implemented by the “Caritas-Spes Ukraine” Regional Office with financial support from Caritas Polska in the Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia Diocese and the Lviv Archdiocese, provides assistance to Ukrainians who find themselves in difficult life circumstances as a result of the war. The project offers grants to help people start their own businesses.