'My house is destroyed, now Kharkiv is my new home': the story of Liudmyla from Kupiansk

Liudmyla from Kupiansk, despite the difficulties of adaptation in the new city, hopes for the best, Kharkiv, 2024. Credits: UN Women Ukraine

Liudmyla comes from Kupiansk, where she worked as a preschool education teacher. The war destroyed her plans and traditions, and she had to evacuate with her family to Kharkiv. In the material, read about her evacuation, search for a new job, and adaptation to life in a big city.

'My house is destroyed, now Kharkiv is my new home', Liudmyla shares her story. 
 
The woman comes from Kupiansk, where she worked as a preschool education teacher. Among the pre-war memories from her hometown, she recalls a good tradition of walking in the park with her children on weekends. The war destroyed plans and traditions, had to evacuate to Kharkiv.

'The safety of my children comes first. Therefore, as soon as I realized that the war was closer and closer to us - there was no doubt, we decided to evacuate', Liudmyla says. She gathered things, went on the train to Kharkiv to look for a new home. Later she found out that the Russian army had destroyed her house in Kupiansk.

 The CSO 'Volunteer-68' helped to adapt to the new city. The Volonter-68 team provided the woman with her family with the necessary humanitarian aid and psychological support. Liudmyla says that the organization's volunteers have become her new friends, a new family.
 
Liudmyla during the interview talks about the experience of evacuation and adaptation in a new city, Kharkiv, 2024. Credits: UN Women Ukraine

Later, Liudmyla managed to get a job in the team "Volunteer-68," where she still works. Now she is involved in projects to help women and girls in the shelter "Volonter-68" in Kharkiv.

Work and new friends helped her adapt to life in the big city. Luidmyla says, about half a year after the evacuation, she realized that Kharkiv become her new home. Although in the beginning she experienced the difficulties of living in a new environment.
'It is important not to look back and look ahead!', optimistically adds Liudmyla.
  
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This project is produced by 'Volunteer-68', funded by The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) with technical support of UN Women Ukraine. The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) mobilizes critical support for local and grassroots civil society organizations working on women, peace and security and humanitarian action. WPHF is a flexible and rapid financing mechanism supporting quality interventions designed to enhance the capacity of women to prevent conflict, respond to crises and emergencies, and seize key peacebuilding opportunities. 

This publication is produced with funding from the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), however, the views expressed and content included does not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations