The World Gets Brighter for Mashenka
11-year-old Mashenka escaped Luhansk, Ukraine in the summer of 2014 two days before the home she lived in with her mom and grandma was destroyed in a bombing. The only thing the little girl brought to Starobilsk was a severe trauma.
"Mashenka didn't eat and didn't sleep at all," says her Grandma Anna. "She had serious health problems, some of her organs were about to collapse. We moved a lot due to increasing rents. The apartments we could afford to live in were usually damp and cold.”
"We lived off my pension and a low state allowance for displaced people. In Luhansk, my daughter worked as a legal consultant, but here she couldn't find even a basic job."
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| 11-year-old Mashenka displays her latest drawing. |
Life changed for the better when the family became part of the SOS Children's Villages assistance program in Starobilsk. "We get food packages, hygienic items, school stationary, vitamins, medicaments," says Grandma Anna.
"Most important is that we stabilized psychologically. The psychologist lifted us up." The psychologist engaged by SOS Children's Villages worked with the entire family individually and in groups. He directed Mashenka towards creative activities.
Mashenka soon discovered her passion for drawing. Grandma Anna says at the beginning Mashenka drew only dragons in dark colours. Now, her motifs are bit brighter and happier. "But the dragons are still here," Grandma Anna sighs.
The SOS Children's Villages program remains an important pillar for the family.
A year ago Mashenka's mom, also named Anna, found a job in her profession in a town about 70 kilometres away. The trip takes about three hours, one-way with the pothole-ridden roads and numerous military checkpoints. Because of this, Mashenka's mom I forced to live elsewhere during the work week and spend only the weekends with her daughter.
Now, supportive and loving grandma Anna engages even more in Mashenka's education and upbringing. She makes sure Mashenka eats right, does her homework and cares for the family's small menagerie - a parrot, three fish and a puppy - which is their only happy memory from Luhansk.
"My son carried Justin, our puppy, in his arms through a river when we were fleeing," says Anna. "He gave Justin to Mashenka because he works at the same place as her mom."
Mashenka says that Grandma Anna teaches her how to care for their animals. "Justin likes to sleep. I like to have the fish next to me when I draw. I love to draw. In SOS [Children's Villages] I go to drawing and dancing. Drawing is my favourite."
In fifth grade now, Mashenka is finally beginning to have happy childhood moments. But the bad ones are unfortunately not gone for good. The small family has to move again because their landlord raised the rent. The poor conditions of the apartments they can afford affect the girl's health and disrupt her daily routines.
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| Mashenka with her grandmother at home in Starobilsk |
"Despite it all, I think we'll never go back [to Luhansk]. We have to build our life here, in Starobilsk. We're lucky to have SOS Children's Villages with us," says Grandma Anna. She kisses Mashenka on the head whispering: "You're my life."
Hundreds of children and their families depend on the work of SOS Children's Villages in Starobilsk. The program for internally displaced and local vulnerable families, part of which is conducted with partner organizations, gives a complex set of services tailored to the needs of each family and ranging from distribution of food, hygienic items, school stationary, medicines, clothes and shoes, to provision of individual and group psychological counselling, creative and educational workshops.
Note: for privacy reasons all names are changed.