Food Packs to Ukraine: This is why we do it

Vasylivska Hromada is one of the many Ukrainians that have been supported by Operation PACE, RE:ACT’s response to the Ukraine Conflict, and she says she will be forever “hugely grateful.”

A mother of two grown up children, Vasylivska lives in the heart of the conflict zone, in the small town of Plavni, close to the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where fighting has been raging for months.

Before the end of February this year when war broke out, she says life in Plavni was good. She had worked for Ukrainian Railways for more than 20 years doing various jobs including station attendant, information desk supervisor and even the announcer when one was needed!

“We always had plenty of passengers going through the station, so I was kept busy, and I really loved my job,” explained Vasylivska. “The day war broke out I was at work and of course in that moment, everything changed. There is literally no way out of here now, because the trains do not run, and we have no work.”

Since then, life has been grim for everyone in Plavni. It is too dangerous to live in her old house, so she spends most of her days and nights in a basement. There is constant shelling and many locals have been injured, though remarkably so far no one has been killed.

The townspeople have been largely cut off from the rest of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast (region) and are without the utilities they had taken for granted in their previous lives.

“We haven’t had any gas or electricity supplies since March 4, and the only way we can get safe drinking water is with the help of a generator which pumps it out of the ground and into the taps.”

Vasylivska has many friends in the town, but she lives alone because both her children have left to join the war effort. Her son is already fighting with the Ukraine Army and her daughter is about to join him on the front line.

“Of course, it is so worrying for me, and now with my daughter also joining up, the situation has got even worse, but I have no right to refuse her.  I have to support her,” she says.

“This is what we all need to do now - to defend our county. I am a flag officer, but I cannot serve due to my health. I want to write somewhere in capital letters - do not shoot at us and do not kill us. We want to live, but the only way to do this now is to fight.”

The biggest job each day for those that remain in Plavni is to find something to eat. Vasylivska says the locals and the wider community help each other.

“We try to exchange products with residents from neighbouring villages. For example, one woman brought me potatoes and milk recently from her smallholding, but there is no certainty about anything. It’s really quite a struggle to find enough to eat because the Russians often close the checkpoints so we can’t reach other places,” she explained.

“We all try to solve problems as they arise, taking each day as it comes. If someone has problems with firewood for example, all the communities try to help them. It will most definitely get worse in the winter, and it will be so cold in my basement.

Medicines are also a big problem. We do stock up on some antibiotics, and we try to get antiviral drugs too, but it’s so hard and once the snow comes it will be even worse,” continued Vasylivska.

With the situation so difficult in eastern Ukraine, the importance of the food provision[JR1] [rc2] by RE:ACT and our partners, the Ukrainan Education Platform cannot be underestimated. Since July, RE:ACT has funded the production of 14,000 family food packs, each of which can feed a family of four for a week.

“The parcels have been so useful to us, a very big help. We are hugely grateful. Because they are long-lasting it means we are able to have a reserve of food that we can really count on. So, if people cannot get through the checkpoints to bring in fresh supplies, we have really good food to keep us going.”

Vasylivska ends the interview with a message to the people of the UK.

“Aside from the food, the most important thing you can give us now is your moral support. We need your prayers. We are participants in a horror film, and you are the observers, so we really need your help.”