Once displaced, but at peace in a newfound home
Holding 8-month-old Mykyta in her arms in the courtyard of a residential building, Yulia’s vision for the future is considerably better now than a couple months before. Displaced to Kamianske, Dnipropetrovs’k Oblast from her native Volnovakha, she applied for cash assistance provided by the Ukraine Response Consortium-partner Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA). Her lack of savings has so far hindered her in putting down a deposit for a flat suitable to house her family of 4, but with help, she was able to fulfil their dream of creating a safe and satisfactory home in the Eastern Ukrainian city.
While her 7-year-old daughter had fun on the playground swing, the mother of two recalls the events of two years ago, when they were forced to flee their home near Volnovakha, a city since occupied by the invading army. They first found refuge in Kamianske, but the community shelter proved to be unsuitable for their eldest daughter: “My daughter, Nastia has a very weak immune system, she catches every illness,” – the mother sighs, “right now she’s sick with chickenpox”. When Yulia found out she was pregnant, they realised, that they need to rent a flat for themselves. The woman couldn’t imagine how she would take care of her daughter and the newborn in the old dormitory where water was provided only for a couple of hours a day, especially without her husband, who is at the front.
The biggest challenge in their situation was not only to find an apartment that met the family’s needs, but also to ensure funds for the deposit, which was two months’ rent plus an agent’s fee, totalling at about 21,000 UAH. Such a down payment is not easy for many, much less a family with two children whose income depends entirely on the husband’s salary – a nearly unaffordable amount.
The family managed to find an apartment, but they were denied an instalment plan for the first rental payment that included the deposit. Therefore, the cash support in the amount of 32,000 UAH (10,800 UAH per person) turned out to be vital for their family eager to move into their own home. “I luckily managed to get into the last call for financial assistance and just prayed, because I was losing hope!”
Thanks to the assistance received, Yulia returned from the hospital to a comfortable home with her newborn. “We have been looking for a place to live for a long time, particularly on the left bank of the river, as there is less smog from the steel plant and it is close to a pine forest, which we visit almost every day – it is good for our daughter’s lungs.” The rented flat became a real home to the family that has already lost one.
Yulia is one of the over 8000 Ukrainians in need who are receiving multi-purpose cash assistance funded by USAID through ACTED and World Vision and implemented by HIA. With the help provided, they are now able to live independently in their own flat, where even their eldest daughter got her own room to study without disturbances.
This story was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Grant Agreement “Ukraine Response Consortium: Providing Multi-Sectoral Humanitarian Assistance to Conflict-Affected Populations in Ukraine (2023-2024)”
