Rebuilding a family home in Ukraine
Anatolii and Olena Dryha fled their village Zelenyi Hai when it was under attack. Now, nearly two years later, they’re close to finishing the rebuild of their home. ZOA supported them, through a project with funding from EU Humanitarian Aid.
Anatolii and Olena: ‘Half of it was gone’
The Dryha family lost their home in the war in Ukraine
“We didn’t believe that the war would actually begin.” Anatolii and Olena Dryha, a married couple from Zelenyi Hai village, Mykolaiv region, share about their disbelief when the war in Ukraine broke out, late February 2022. “We’re in the 21st century!”
When the shelling started, their neighbours were killed. The school their now 15-year-old daughter attended, was bombed. “After this happened, we packed up and left our village around March 13”, they share. “We were displaced in another regions in Ukraine for 1.5 years. After we left, our house in the village was hit.”
After the Russian army had left their village, the family retuned in April last year. It was very hard for them to find their home destroyed. “Everything in our own house was damaged”, they recall. “The roof, walls, and windows were destroyed. Half of it was gone.”
Olena shares that they were sustained by anger, lust for life and plans for the future. “On the day when the truck of sand was brought to start the rebuild of our home, we shoveled the sand together. And in the evening we found out that I was pregnant.”
Anatolii en Olena received a lot of help from fellow villagers. “Then ZOA came and helped us a lot with the restoration of the roof”, says Anatolii. “Now we are making progress in the complete restoration of the house for our children. We are trying to do everything on time and are very grateful to ZOA for helping our family.”
