“My grandson has no one but me”

I used to work in a mine before the war. We had everything and lived a normal life. I thought I would retire and would be staying at home. Well, my retirement allowance is not so good. It is small, little to nothing. I still go to work because you just cannot survive on this pension allowance. I work as a watchman at a vocational school. I work for 24 hours. Otherwise, we would die, we would not survive. Apartments, utilities are expensive, everything is expensive. I need to buy some medicines too.

It is very hard. There is no work for young people. There are no prospects for young people. Many of them left. Those who stayed will soon graduate from vocational schools and technical schools. Where will they be employed? I think there is no employment for them. Only the mines. We have three or four mines left here, and even they can be closed down. There are no jobs for young people.

In 2015, a shell hit the roof. We were hiding in the basement. The roof on half of the house was destroyed completely.

They brought us some old roof slate and put it on the roof. I understand that it was a difficult time, but it is 2019 now. Something could be done, I guess, so that we could have a normal roof. Entrance halls are not repaired either. Our damaged entrance hallway has been standing like that for three years. Nobody wants to do anything, nobody. The roof is leaking. These are the conveniences I have. The commission [housing committee] came to me. They come, look around, go to the attic, look there too and that's it.

I am now taking care of my grandson. His mom and dad are young and they want to arrange their lives. Young people live for themselves. His dad lives separately, as well as his mom. She has a different family and he has a different family too. That's it. And I got the grandson. He has been living with me for six years.

His parents live in another town. As the saying goes, children do not choose their parents. Everything can happen in life. He is a big boy and understands all this. I do not have any troubles with him. He helps me with everything. I do not feel it hard for me. It's hard to buy him clothes and shoes. Otherwise, he does not make me any burden, I've got accustomed to living with him.

We sit down and consult together. We do everything together. He helps me and goes to the store, makes some shopping and brings water. “Grandma, let me do this for you, grandma, let me help you with that”. He is a good boy.

It was on 8 December. He was playing on the playground. And there, near house No. 35, a shell or a mine landed. They were playing on the playground – and shell fragments wounded him in the lower back. He was in the hospital and was operated on. Therefore, he got a status of a child that became victim of the conflict.

When the shellfire occurred, I shouted: "Mykyta!" He said: "I'm coming." And he was in a shock. He was getting up and limping. I thought he was just shell-shocked. And when he entered, he began to lose consciousness. He had a sweater and a coat on, and there was a hole burnt out. They took him to the hospital, operated on, and took a fragment out.

We have nowhere to go. Who is waiting for us and where? Where will I go? We were born here, I grew up here, I had my whole family here, mom and dad lived here, my children grew up and grandchildren. Where could we go? We have nowhere to go. We will live here as before. It's scary when heavy shellfire occurs. I feel scared. Not for myself, but for the kid.

I only wish that God would give me health, I don't need anything else. I wish that God would give us health, so that I could raise my grandson, bring him up, and get him a good education. He has no one but me. So that we are not stressed and sleep well at night, so that we do not worry. And I don't want anything else.