The photo shows 7-year-old Olenka from Kharkiv. Together with her mother and older brother, the girl went through the most terrible times from the beginning of the full-scale war in her hometown.

Then a rocket hit happened near the girl’s house. Luckily, it only resulted in broken windows and a fright. However, it wasn’t a while before a Russian missile hit the Barabashovo market and left the girl’s mother without a livelihood. All the goods Olena had stored for sale were burned. Since then, the Kots family has faced difficult times of survival.

Despite the constant danger of shelling, the family couldn’t leave the house, because Olena’s brother has special needs due to his psychosocial development and has difficulty traveling. Therefore, the children and their mother were hiding inside the four walls all day long. Little Olenka so felt the lack of communication with her peers and social life. Because of the war, the school was held online and even then irregularly, and the family could not afford private classes. 

This went on until one day Olena’s mother came to a local church for humanitarian aid. It was one of Save Ukraine’s partner hubs, which operated a community care center for children. And Olena gladly enrolled her daughter.

When the girl came to our center, she hadn’t spoken to anyone for a long time. It was difficult for the girl to communicate with her peers, she was ashamed to show her abilities in the classroom, although she already knew the letters, numbers, and colors she had learned with her mother earlier. Olenka often cried when she was left without her mother because she was afraid that her mother would leave her forever.

Today, it’s hard not to notice the changes that have happened with Olenka. The girl has become more open, willingly communicates with others, and expresses her emotions. She has gained friends with whom she happily plays board games and actively learns on her favorite interactive floor. And now there are days when Olenka doesn’t want to go home at all 💛.

Our community center’s team has also provided the little girl of Kharkiv with speech therapy sessions and continues to support the Kots family weekly with humanitarian aid.

Seeing such wonderful changes in the lives of our little children is our greatest happiness. And we are confident that together we can do even more for the children and their parents!