“We’ve finally started to smile,” said mother Hanna, who settled with her sons in our modular house in Bucha under the Fort Home program.

To understand the miracle of the reappearance of this smile in the Yevdokymenko family, you need to look into the events of their lives from April 2022. Just at that time, the Russian shells began to fall on the civilians’ houses in the Slovianskyi district, where the family had been living. Day by day, the loud shelling became more frequent, and in the end, it hadn’t stopped either day or night. It got to the point that 15-year-old Sashko and 10-year-old Maksym were terrified of falling asleep and often cried from fear. Spring and summer were just like that for children.

One day, due to shelling, the family’s house ended up without a roof and windows. Hanna’s husband managed to repair the damage, but already in the fall, Yevdokymenko’s house was again without doors and windows. Parents and children were gripped by the cold. Winter has come.

In those fierce days, they, like all residents of Bylbasivka, had no water, electricity, or gas. They collected rain and water from the pond for household needs, and went to the well for drinking water, fearing not to return every time. When a Russian rocket flew into the family’s yard, Hanna was frightened and realized that she could lose her children at any moment. And she can’t wait for a miracle any longer – she needs to save her sons immediately. “The decision to leave wasn’t easy. Everyone was crying. But there was no other way out.”

Unfortunately, their boys’ father had to stay, because he still has been working on the railway. Hanna and her sons were evacuated by volunteers to Kyiv, where the Save Ukraine team took them under their wing at the “Hope and Healing” center. Here we provided the family with shelter, food, medical and social support, and resolved the issue of the necessary documents. Sashko and Maksym started attending our Day Center and classes with a psychologist, and step by step recovered their mental state.

We understood that after everything experienced, the mother with children needed comfort and home warmth to fully recover. So, together with our partners, we installed a modular house for the Yevdokymenko family in the Kyiv region, which is located on the territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The family was incredibly happy with such changes and has now settled in their new home!

For almost a year, tears haven’t disappeared from their eyes. And today, when the mother and the boys are finally smiling, this is proof of the beautiful changes that are sure to come when we invest a little kindness, and a little attention in those who need it.