Turning Hobby into a Lifesaver: The Story of Oleksandr from Nikopol, Izium District
The Reconstruction Team of the East SOS Charity Foundation met Oleksandr during the renovation of his house. He is 47 years old and previously lived in Kramatorsk with his wife and son, working in sculpture and landscape design. In 2014, when the full-scale war began, the family decided to relocate to the village of Nikopol in the Izium district of the Kharkiv region – closer to their parents and, seemingly, away from danger.
“I thought it would be safer here. Away from the bustle of the city and all the terrible events,” Oleksandr recalls.
However, in 2022, their home was damaged three times by russian shelling. The East SOS team restored part of the roof and installed a new front door, allowing the family to continue living safely in their home.
Today, the couple is growing pine trees, and Oleksandr has turned his creativity into a new venture that inspires thousands. He runs a YouTube and a TikTok channel, showcasing how to decorate yards using improvised materials such as cement and plastic bottles. His YouTube channel already has over 500,000 subscribers, and his TikTok channel has 100,000 followers.
The family endured a full-scale invasion in their own home. Oleksandr hid in the hallway next to his mother, who has a disability and cannot move on her own, while his wife and son stayed in the basement.
“I was afraid they might get trapped in the basement, and they were worried about me because I was upstairs with my mother. Everything around us was rumbling nonstop,” Oleksandr recalls.
On March 31, 2022, the family made a life-saving decision to evacuate to the Poltava region. That summer, a cluster missile struck their yard twice, and fragments from another hit the garden. The blast wave damaged the roof, windows, and doors, and even caused a fire in the bathroom.
In September 2022, the family returned and began restoring the house on their own, as best as they could. Oleksandr later learned about East SOS assistance from the starosta’s office.
“I am deeply grateful for your support. We would never have been able to fully cope with the repairs on our own,” he says.
Today, Oleksandr dreams not only of Ukraine’s victory, but also of his own “shell house” on the Black Sea coast – a home that will be calm, cozy, and safe.
Since August 2023, the East SOS team has restored 910 houses in the Kharkiv region.
If your home was damaged as a result of hostilities in the Izium district, Barvinkove and Blyzniuky communities (Kharkiv region), the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the villages of Krestyshche, Mykilske, and Adamivka (Sviatohirsk community), or Oleksandrivka community (Donetsk region), you can request assistance by calling the East SOS Call Center from Monday to Saturday, 8 AM–6 PM: 0800 332 614
The renovation work is carried out as part of the project “Comprehensive Humanitarian Response to the Needs of Conflict-Affected Ukrainians and Third Country Nationals in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and Moldova”, supported by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
