11-year-old Masha from Kharkiv has never known parental love. The girl and her brother were raised by their aunt, who barely made a living to provide the children with everything they needed.

But when the full-scale war began, the conditions in the family became extremely tough. The siblings had to forget about their carefree childhood, education, and entertainment because they had to survive.

That’s how Masha and her brother came to one of Save Ukraine’s Community Centers for humanitarian aid one day. And very soon after, the siblings started attending our daily classes. While working with the children, our specialists found out that Mariia was in a very tough psychological state and had many gaps in her education. The girl was withdrawn, showed emotional instability in her behavior, and was very shy about her appearance, especially her short “boyish” hairstyle. So she always hid her hair in a hat, even indoors. 

Mariia had a difficult time with her studies, as she could not even read or do math, and was embarrassed to join online classes. 

Now it’s been a year since Mariia has been attending our Community Center. Here, the child has received a lot of friendly support and such an important acceptance among the staff and peers. Our specialists provided the whole family with individual psychological help. During this time, Masha began to openly share her feelings, better recognize them and became emotionally closer to her auntie and brother. 

Today, Mariyka can read and write well; she attends online classes using a tablet from Save Ukraine; she cooperates with a team and has got friends. And the most important thing for the child is that she finally took off her headdress.

We are so happy and proud of these incredible changes in the life of the girl and her family. Masha’s childhood has returned. We will continue to make every effort to fully restore Mariia’s mental well-being and help her acquire all the school knowledge she was unable to obtain due to the war.

**All names in the story have been changed for ethical reasons, and the photo is for illustrative purposes.