“I Keep Going for the Sake of My Children and Their Future”. The Courage of a Mother of Four

Before the full-scale war began, Olesia’s life was stable and full of plans. Together with her husband, they worked, ran their own business, rented a house, and were saving money to buy a home of their own. It seemed that building a secure future for their large family was only a matter of time.

Everything changed in the spring of 2022. At the time, Olesia was eight months pregnant and staying in Chuhuiv with her children. One of the air strikes hit very close to where they were. The explosion of an aerial bomb destroyed nearby buildings, damaged their home, and the stress she experienced was so severe that she temporarily lost the ability to walk.

Soon afterwards, the family returned to their home village of Prolisne in Chuhuiv district, Kharkiv region, which had come under occupation. The final weeks of Olesia’s pregnancy became the greatest challenge. She was allowed to travel to Chuhuiv to give birth only on her own, without her children. Just a few days later, she was forced to return so she could be with her family again.

“The hardest part was knowing that there was nothing we could do to help the children. We had no medicines, hygiene products, or even the most basic necessities. We simply waited for a chance to leave,” she recalls.

A month later, the family managed to evacuate from the occupied territory, travelling along rural roads under shelling. They later lived in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv, and Ivano-Frankivsk region, but the longing for their home eventually brought them back to Prolisne.

Today, Olesia is raising her four children on her own. The family lives in a dormitory room measuring just 20 square metres. Because she needs to care for her children, she is currently unable to work, and the family’s main source of income is social benefits and child support payments, which are often not enough to cover even their basic needs.

That is why the humanitarian cash assistance the family received through the programme implemented by the NGO Responsible Citizens in partnership with Acted, as part of the Response Consortium funded by the United States Government, came at exactly the right time.

The funds allowed the family to pay off outstanding utility bills, buy the children the clothes they needed, and purchase equipment for their education. Olesia also used part of the assistance to prepare her eldest daughter for her graduation ceremony and to pay for her further education.

“For me, this is about much more than paying for education. It gives me confidence that my daughter will be able to get an education, build a career, and have more opportunities in the future,” she says.

Despite everything she has been through, Olesia says her greatest source of strength is her children. She proudly speaks about their achievements in school and their creative interests. One of her daughters is learning to play the guitar, and it is these small victories that help the family keep moving forward.

Olesia also finds hope in knowing that her loved ones are now defending Ukraine.

Olesia’s story is an example of how timely humanitarian assistance enables families not only to meet their most urgent needs but also to preserve what matters most—the opportunity to build a future for their children, even in the most difficult circumstances.