From Helping Others to Seeking Safety: The Story of Our Nikopol Team
We constantly share with you the stories of people we support, but time quickly changes circumstances. Today, we would like to tell you about our social workers who, until recently, were helping those forced to flee their homes due to hostilities and who have now made the difficult decision to leave everything behind in order to protect their own families.
Our team in Nikopol has decided to evacuate. Since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, Sister Eleonora, together with social workers and volunteers, has been helping people in the greatest need. Despite fear and constant danger to their own lives, they always found ways to provide assistance and kind words to comfort others. However, life in Nikopol has recently become extremely difficult: frequent shelling, a high number of civilian casualties, and a constant threat that prevents people from even leaving their homes.
“Living and working was not easy, as it was difficult even to sleep properly or plan the day. Still, we tried to support people as much as possible despite exhaustion and constant stress,” shares social worker Olena (name is changed). “The decision to leave came gradually. It was very hard to decide to leave our home, our work, and the people we had grown used to. We hesitated for a long time because we did not want to leave the city and everything that was so dear to us. But the shelling became more frequent, the danger for the children increased, and we realized that staying was becoming more and more difficult.”
Olena joined Caritas-Spes as a volunteer in the first days of the full-scale invasion. She always approached people with an open heart, seeking ways to help, and soon became a social worker on the team. Her husband also contributed as a driver in our projects. During this time, their young daughter was born. She often accompanied her parents as they registered people for assistance, distributed food and hygiene kits, and gave Christmas gifts to children, so everyone joked that she was “born a little Caritas worker.” When they informed us of their decision to leave Nikopol, as they could no longer live under constant stress and fear for their children’s lives, the national office fully supported them and assisted wherever possible. Ensuring the safety and well-being of our staff is one of Caritas’ core principles.
At the same time, we do not leave people without support: the team from Kamianske will continue conducting registrations in accessible areas of the Nikopol region where it is safe to travel. We wish our colleagues to find their place in a new location and sincerely believe that they will continue their path of serving people within Caritas.
