Thousands of people in need, thousands of stories we come across as we support people. And with the permission of these people, we share their stories with readers.

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Before the war, Olha lived with her husband in Mariupol. She is 75 years old, she worked all her life and dreamed of a peaceful old age. They had a beautiful apartment that they had recently renovated, and they could not even think that all their dreams and plans would collapse in one day. “It’s very scary to lose everything at the age of 75,” says the woman.

From the first days of the war, Mariupol was subjected to constant shelling and explosions. One day, a shell exploded under Olha’s balcony, all the windows and doors were knocked out instantly. No one knew what to do next. They ran outside and met an acquaintance who said that his house had survived and offered to stay in it for a while. However, the explosions continued. “We had to cook food on the fire right in the yard. We no longer had electricity, gas, or heating,” the woman recalls.

On March 15, the family decided to leave Mariupol because the situation was only getting worse. So they came to Berdiansk, then to Poltava, and later to Kyiv.The family had no friends or acquaintances with whom they could stay in Kyiv, so they had to rent an apartment. The conditions in the new temporary housing were far from the best, so the family put everything in order at their own expense. At that time, Olha and her husband ran out of savings, but it was necessary to somehow continue to pay for the rent.

Thanks to financial assistance provided by ADRA Ukraine, the family was able to continue renting housing because they still have no one to go to or nowhere to return to. “Thank you very much, this is a huge help for us in these difficult times,” says the woman.

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Olha’s family has received assistance within the framework of the project with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and ADRA Germany. In addition to financial assistance that is provided to people who have lost their homes and have to rent housing, the project also covers such areas of assistance as transportation assistance, insulation and restoration of housing, as well as provision of legal and psychological support.