More and more people from the war zone are forced to leave with their families, and about one and a half million internally displaced people have already been registered.
According to the International Organization for Migration, there are much more displaced people in Ukraine – 6.5 million. They are settled in student dormitories, free apartments and empty houses, according to TSN .
It took the Melnikov family and their grandmother almost a week to get to the Cherkasy village of Samorodnaya from their native Mirnograd, Donetsk region. “I drove all the way – where we are going, why, who needs us in a foreign land, when, Thank God, everything is so good! I could not even think,” says the migrant.
At first, even in the relatively safe Cherkasy region, fifth-grader twins Peter and Pavel, relatives say, shuddered and were afraid of everything. The children had nightmares and slept with their parents. When the family was still packing at home, everything around their city exploded. “There were already sounds, the glass was shaking, the walls were shaking, everyone was shaking,” says the mother of the family.
Nobody lived in the house that they got for seven years. The inhabitants of the village slightly improved the house, and further on the settlers take care of themselves. There are cooked in rough, the oven is seen for the first time, therefore, for cooking, it has not yet been mastered.
After two weeks, the twins got used to it and already feel at home. But due to the lack of the Internet, they cannot study remotely, so they completely immersed themselves in a new rural life. “So far, everything is fine, I am responsible for the water, I help my mother cook,” Pavel says.
Brother Pavlik – Petrik has other duties. “I help dad pull out nails, clean up, help chop wood, carry,” the boy says.
Only three empty houses remained in Samorodnia. The locals won’t brag about local preferences. “We don’t have a store, we don’t have money, where to spend it is a plus,” people say jokingly.
Larisa Peskova was looking for the owners of empty estates and negotiated with them for the settlement of the internally displaced. “People understand the problem of migrants, and they gladly agreed. They handed over the keys, told the places where the keys could lie and gave permission for us to equip them there, ”says Larisa.
Aleksey Poliit bought a house for himself as a dacha, he himself moved to Cherkasy region ten years ago from Kharkov. Now, together with Larisa and her husband Sergey, they gathered for a cleanup in anticipation of new families from the war zones. “Roll up your sleeves, the community is responding, half the village will come, a couple of days and this house will be a doll, come live for a year or two or three,” says Alexei.
Dishes, clothes, electric stoves and, of course, food, volunteers and local residents help with this. “Yesterday, the old grandfather came from another village with a backpack, brought potatoes, brought eggs. “I know what children are, take it, take it, it’s necessary.” God bless him…” says the grandmother of the Melnikov family.
21 thousand people lived in this community, and another 10 thousand migrants were added, although only a third was registered. In order for them to somehow stay afloat, local authorities “put” on business that moves from war zones to safer regions.
Vitaliy Matsyuk says that a sewing workshop will be opened soon. Craftswomen are also looking for among the settlers. “My friends found sewing machines abroad, we are thinking how to transfer them here and start tailoring. We received the first materials, Velcro for the production of bulletproof vests, we are thinking about tailoring the uniform,” he adds.
They also urge all migrants to plant vegetable gardens. With planting material and processing secrets, the locals promise to help. “Who does not know, it is not a problem to have a desire, we will do it all. Ready, some asked to take hundreds,” local residents say.
Although people settle down in a new place, they equip everything, but still their opinions are at home there. “To end this damned war as soon as possible, I so want to go home, my soul is torn and that’s it. We will definitely return,” the settlers say.
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