I am a teacher by profession. I worked with children for 44 years, and retired at the age of 64, in 2012. My husband, Mykola Mykhailovych Shyshov, is an energy engineer. He worked at the Luhansk TPP as a shift supervisor in the boiler-turbine shop for 40 years. I have retired since 1996. I have a daughter, a son-in-law, and grandchildren. They live in Khartsyzk, Donetsk Oblast.

Before the war life was joyful. We believed in bright future. We gathered with friends and relatives, went to Lake Chyste and to the forest to gather mushrooms.

We thought it would always be like this. We loved and love our city. We are a part of it and will never betray it, because there is no other city called Shchastia.

On 14 June 2014, the war broke into our lives. We listened with a shudder to the volleys of Grads launchers and  other weapon the name of which we did not know. We watched in horror as the forest caught fire near our house. How the windows broke to pieces in the apartment. We wondered how this could have happened. Why were there columns of tanks and armoured personnel carriers on our road?

We were then called "separatists." We didn't even heard that word before. We believe that we live in Ukraine. We are Ukrainians, and we did not want to go anywhere. And who are we now?

We have to cross two borders to see the children. If something happens, they won't even be able to come. That's how our lives have changed.

No one needs old people except for the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Thank you for your support! I have polyarthritis and it is difficult to walk, so the Humanitarian Foundation helped me financially, and even gave me crutches.

What are we dreaming of? Of course, we dream of peace. We wish we could return to our lovely city, that our TPP resumed its work, that the country finally became such that we were proud of it!

I'm tired of being afraid of everything. I dream of a quiet peaceful life.

I am an optimist by nature, and I believe in the bright future ahead of us. Now I work as a part of a creative group working on a book about the history of School No. 56, which will feature creative works by residents of the city. I believe that "Beauty will save the world" ( Dostoevsky's quote).