Living in Constant Fear: Life in Ukraine

Despite living in constant fear of her home coming under attack, Mariia Rozumovych is determined to play her part in helping 100,000s of internally displaced people in Ukraine.

Mariia, a 30-year-old former English tutor, now works as a Grant Manager for the Ukrainian Education Platform (UEP), one of RE:ACT’s partner charities in the war-torn country.

The job helps her to put to one side the terror of what might happen to herself, her husband Taras, and the rest of her family if the city of Lviv is targeted by the enemy.

“We live in fear all the time of missile attacks, or the possibility of a new invasion from Belarus. I worry constantly about losing my loved ones like so many others have done.  Stress has become a part of my life.  It is hard to dream or plan anything for the future because you don't even know what can happen during the next ten minutes,” Mariia explains.

Mariia joined the UEP in June last year when she saw an opportunity to put her English skills to use.

“I really wanted to help my people in some way and coincidentally, as I was thinking about this, my friend rang and told me about this organisation and said they were looking for someone who spoke English. I agreed to join them right away. It is one of the very few things since war broke out that has brought me some happiness,” continues Mariia.

“Now I am part of something really great. In the last year, with the help of our overseas partners like RE:ACT, UEP has helped thousands of people with food, hygiene, shelters, social and psychological support and evacuated many thousands of people from the occupied territories.”

“During this time we have met so many beautiful and kind organisations who have supported us in this awful period in our history. RE:ACT is one of our best friends. They found us when the war started and offered their help. Together we have supported over 45,000 people with food boxes and hygiene kits, and now we also feed thousands of displaced people with hot food in Dnipro and Kharkiv.”

She says her life and those of all her fellow countrymen and women will never be the same again, but she is optimistic.

“The war has left an imprint that will be with us for the rest of our days. We understand that everyone is already tired of this war. But millions of Ukrainians are grateful to each of you for your tremendous support.”