Happily-ever-after – unusual help requests from frontline residents
Optimism is not a matter of circumstances for 73-year-old Natalia, resident of Orikhiv – a city located only a couple of kilometres away from the line of contact. She married her now-husband, age 78 with the help of the humanitarian support point of the settlement. Bombed and shelled every day, most of its residents have already found shelter in safer parts of Ukraine and abroad, and government services have also left the settlement that was declared to be in the “Zero zone”. Nevertheless, a few civilians continue to hold out despite the constant danger to life.
It is for their support that the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund cooperates with Hungarian Interchurch Aid and partner League of Socially Responsible Women, who operate support points in Orikhiv and 19 other frontline settlements in Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Kherson Oblasts. These support points hand out in-kind aid, provide legal assistance, protection counselling, transportation and evacuation as well as referral to other, more specialised services. It is a challenging task in a dangerous environment.
The situation of Orikhiv residents reflects the needs that these focal points try to respond to. Most of their work is centred around organising evacuation for the wounded, compensation for damages and other types of legal counselling. “We don’t even have any cell coverage here. Sometimes there is internet, but only if I am able to connect to Starlink.”- explains Yana, the operator of the support point in Orikhiv when we meet her. “If we are able to speak to the outside world, I usually don’t have happy stories to tell” – she says with a rare smile.
“One case however, really impressed and inspired me. A woman in her 70s came to me with a request I was sure to be a joke. I told her it was good that she did not lose her sense of humour in these difficult times” Natalia, the elderly lady with the request had to state her wish to get married twice to be believed. She even brought the groom with her. “We had a long conversation, he [the groom] said that she was the most beautiful woman on earth, that she filled his day with light, that she was the whole world to him. It was so nice to see two people so in love with each other, despite their age and the circumstances. Now I know that it is never too late.”
Touched by their story, Yana reached out the registry office, and arranged for them to get married as soon as possible. Natalia and her husband got wed on New Year’s Eve at the end of 2023. Bringing happiness and hope where it is a rare sight, the Orikhiv support point funded by Ukraine Humanitarian Fund became a small cogwheel to support the newlywed couple’s wish to live happily-ever-after.
