This is the harrowing story of the horrors Alexandra witnessed, as told by her 82-year-old grandmother:
“Just before the war began our family was happy. We loved to travel and enjoyed spending time with our granddaughter Alexandra. She danced, sang, and drew for us. Then February 24th came, and our lives were turned upside down. Suddenly we had no heating, no electricity, no hot water, and a few days later the bombing started. At first, we hid together in the basement of our apartment building. We were all shocked and scared but tried not to show it for Alexandra’s sake. She held her mother’s hand so tight and kept asking: “Are we going to be killed? I don't want to die.”
We light bonfires on the street to cook food. We made bread with dirty hands because there was no water. We even had to collect snow in buckets so we could wash our hands. Shells exploded around us. People died and they were buried right there in the streets. After 14 days of hell, we said to ourselves: “We must live! We have a child, our Alexandra.”
So, we took the risk, come out of the basement, and run toward our cars. What followed was a difficult journey filled with dangers and pain. Other travellers in our convoy got killed by heaving bombing along the way. We were helped by kind people and Innovista supported local churches in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro. They feed us, gave us clean clothes, and supported us. Now we are in Zhytomyr. We are safe and thankful to God and to the people who helped us. But our minds are numb, and our hearts are scared.
My precious Alexandra’s childhood has been stolen. I don’t know what to do.”
We want to help Ukrainian children like Alexandra to deal with the psychological and emotional impact of the unspoken horrors they have witnessed. But we need your help to make this happen. You have already shown an interest in Innovista's work in Ukraine and have prayed for our projects.
Will you now choose to give £10 a month or what you can to help a Ukrainian child deal with the trauma they have experienced? Your monthly gift can enable us to roll out the Resilient Families programme we have developed in partnership with Viva an international Christian children’s charity.
Your regular monthly gift can ensure that:
The scale of need is enormous with over two-thirds of Ukraine’s children being uprooted because of the war. I hope you will partner with us; to bring hope, joy, and healing to children like Alexandra whose lives have been ravaged by war.
Our Resilient Family programme will build the capacity of local churches in Ukraine and Moldova as they respond to the trauma faced by children and adults. Watch this 3 minute video to find out more and sign up to a monthly gift here.
Thank you for your support and your prayers.
