My husband and I used to live in Artemivsk. We sold our apartment there and bought a house in Shyrokyne. The house was very small. We started with the house almost from scratch. We did not have our son yet at that time. We bought it in 2000. We managed to build such a decent house. Then my husband built a second house next door and a garage.
We lived a normal life and everything was fine. He went fishing. I worked in a church. He died in 2012. A blood clot came off. First my dad died and four months later my husband died.
In 2014, shelling occurred for the first time. I and my son were sitting in the cellar. He was small. It's very scary to recall this. Time has passed, but when I watch it on YouTube, watch what happened then, my eyes well up with tears at once. God forbid to experience this again.
The second time there was a heavy shelling on 12 February 2015. Before that, we heard that there was some shellfire and we were hiding in cellars all the time.
We arranged some sort of bunkers there! There were beds and all the things needed. Because the first time, when we did not expect it, we stayed there for two days. Our neighbour was killed. Our second house was hit. It was destroyed completely. "Grad" [rocket launcher]. We had been staying hungry in the cellar, and then, when we got out, we began to make some stocks of home-canned food there. It was very scary to go out.
On 12 February we have a patronal feast in the church. It is the Feast of Three Hierarchs. And we were preparing for the event. The priest was expected to come from Mariupol. And then, on the 10th, there began a heavy shelling, and on 12 February, a very heavy shelling happened.
We were not in our house, but in one of our parishioners’ house in the centre of the village. That was really scary! Her cellar is four meters deep, but it was trembling, it was all shaking so much! And my son was with me. He was just 10 years old then. We shouted together so much then! It was very scary. I thought it would then all collapse and that's the end.
The next morning, at about 6 am, we got out, having spent all night in the cellar. It seemed to be quiet around. And then a neighbour came to us and said: “Huh, why are you here? Everyone's gone!" We were in a panic. I thought how could everyone leave. Nobody told us anything. They said that a big vehicle arrived and took people to the city.
We looked around and we could hardly make a step as cartridges [shell casings] were everywhere. Soldiers were running out and shouting: “Why are you out here? It will be like at Skhidnyi [city micro-district] here!" And then the shootout began.
We ran into someone else's house, but there was no cellar there. There was only some sort of a garage or something. We were sheltering there. Two more people came up there. They probably heard that people were being evacuated. Then journalists came to us too, two men. Someone sent them. They were going to see some old lady, but the soldiers did not let them pass because the most terrible firefight was taking place there.
My son Danik [short for Danylo] cried: "Oh, take us away from here." Well, they said: "Just you, without any belongings, don't take anything." And I just left from someone else's house, just like that. I didn't get home anymore. I have never been there since then. That’s it. That is how we ended up here, in Mariupol.
The first days I was afraid to go outside. It was raining very hard and I couldn't go outside. It seemed to me that it was a shelling. Where was I going to hide? We had cellars in the village, but there were no cellars here, nothing. Where to run?
My son did not want to go to school. I was not eager to let him go. I thought, my God, if he goes, and then shelling occurs, how will I find him there? It was such a fear for me! Well, and then little by little. He needed to finish his school year, to get a certificate for the 7th grade. And so, we went to school number 10 and had him enrolled. He was admitted, thank God.
The headmaster was a very good woman. She said: "We admit everyone." And she admitted my son without any problems. We lagged behind the programme, naturally. Well, we could hardly study there [in the village] because of the shelling and then some other reasons too.
My health was shaken very much. I had visits to neuropathologist and the kid spent some time in neurology department. He used to wake up and scream at night. And I had some problems with my heart. I needed to go to the hospital and be kept on the drip. Heart...
I get some subsistence allowance of about 1,000 hryvnias (UAH) and 1,400 hryvnias (UAH) of survivor’s pension [for the loss of a breadwinner]. And I earn a little extra money doing some work – around 1,200-1,300 hryvnias. I don’t buy any clothes. I took these clothes when they gave them to us as aid. I bought sneakers for my son. At first, we did not have any other clothes, nothing at all.
Thank God, Rinat Akhmetov was providing some food aid and we began to survive. They gave us some food, butter, pasta, and we all fed ourselves only from here, because there was no money, nothing.
Almost all Shyrokyne village inhabitants are in Mariupol. We have our Shyrokyne community here. At first, we were meeting near the church. People started bringing clothes. We were taking clothes there, whichever suited us. Food aid packages began to be given. I registered for getting social payments as an IDP, then submitted documents to be paid survivor’s pension [for the loss of a breadwinner]. So, this is how we began to survive here, little by little.
At first, there was no job at all. I could not get any job because of my age. I could either do some cleaning somewhere, or could work selling something. Basically, if someone offers some job. That’s how it is.
We hoped for some time that we would return to Shyrokyne... But how to live there? My house is completely destroyed. Nobody has set foot there for three years. Rain, wind, snow. What's left there? Nothing is left. I wish I could have a permanent job and my kid could study. I wish I could have my own housing and could know that no one would turn us off.
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