Keeping Hope Alive After 32 Months Without Seeing the Sun: The Story of Olena and Oleh from Sviatohirsk

For more than a month, Olena and Oleh have been staying at the Center for Social Adaptation of People with Disabilities run by NGO “Ocean of Kindness” in Dnipro. They endured 4 months of russian occupation and life in near ‘gray zone’ conditions, surviving without water, food, or heating. The full-scale war forced them to flee Sviatohirsk.

Olena and Oleh are people with disabilities. Olena has been battling muscular dystrophy for most of her life — a condition that started progressing after she gave birth to her son at the age of 18. Her body does not produce the protein needed for muscle formation. For 6 years now, she has been unable to walk on her own and uses a chair to move around.

Staying under constant shelling without social and medical support was impossible, so in the fall of 2022, a Red Cross crew evacuated the couple. This is how their new life in Dnipro began, but their rented one-room apartment was not adapted to the needs of people with disabilities, a challenge that proved to be a harsh ordeal.

I didn’t even know what the building entrance looked like because we were brought there at night. For 2 years and 8 months, I saw only a concrete fence outside my window — no clouds, no sun, no starsOlena shared.

An appeal to the Donetsk Regional Administration yielded results: the CF “East SOS” team became aware of Olena and Oleh’s situation. Following this, we helped arrange the couple’s relocation to the Center for Social Adaptation of People with Disabilities run by NGO “Ocean of Kindness.” Olena is very satisfied with her stay here, as it offers a daily routine, a caring environment, and a space for hope and change. At the center, she can see the sky and the sun again.

The couple is now receiving the necessary assistance and care at the center. The CF “East SOS” team is looking for a permanent accommodation solution for them. A psychologist is helping Olena restore her emotional well-being, while social workers are assisting with obtaining certificates and formalizing the couple’s marriage — a long-awaited dream they kept putting off for the future.

Psychosocial support is provided as part of the project “Integrated Comprehensive Support and Protection for Vulnerable Evacuees,” implemented by the CF “East SOS” with financial support from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF).