Voice of Ukraine

From Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (317th day of ruzzian invasion): The areas where ruzzians temporarily occupied our land are gaping with wounds. The longer the occupation lasted, the more destruction and trauma can be seen everywhere – in villages where not a single house was spared shelling, where roofs of houses look like bare skeletons, windows without glass scream silently of horrors they have seen, the walls and gates are riddled with bullets and shrapnel.

Here people have haunted expressions in their eyes, though they ignore the sounds of distant explosions as if they don’t hear them. They are grateful for the help we bring, but while standing in line to get it their faces look worried – they wonder if we brought enough food packages. Inevitably it’s never enough, the packages are gone, and people ask in desperation, “Is there anything you can give me? A candle, a blanket, a flashlight, batteries? Anything? And we feel helpless. We feel that we helped a few people in some small way, but we have also disappointed many.

The areas where we drove through this time on our way to and from Lyman were badly destroyed. As we were driving through the ruins that once used to be thriving villages, we kept asking, “Why?!” Why did ruzzians instead of putting their energy and resources into making their own life better, come to Ukraine and destroy the lives of so many people.

Every one of these houses represents a lifetime or maybe lifetimes of a few generations that were working hard to build it, to make it better for future generations. And one day, a maniac neighbor comes to “liberate” you from all the things you worked hard to build, plant, and create. How to rebuild all these?! But an even better question, When will this destruction stop?

The people we are trying to help are not poor, and they are not homeless. They were made poor by war, they lost jobs, lost homes lost their possessions and worst, they lost loved ones. Or maybe we should say it more accurately – ruzzian invaders destroyed their homes and killed their loved ones. But people don’t give up, they keep on living!

As we were driving into Lyman we stopped when we saw a young woman with a little girl walking alongside the road. We gave them a food package and a gift for the girl. The young woman was pregnant. We asked if she had been here in Lyman the whole time, and she said yes. We don’t know the story of her pregnancy, but she seemed to radiate peace. We know there is a reason God gave her that baby at a dark time like this. Please, pray that her baby is born in peaceful Ukraine, but if there is still war, may this baby give joy and strength to everyone around her/him like our Briana is giving us joy and strength. Pray for people in Lyman and other places with ruined and badly damaged infrastructure to survive this winter. Thank you for supporting us and helping us bring some relief to them.

53 days left till spring…