We step into different homes.
In one apartment, there is the smell of soup. In another, the windows are still sealed with plastic sheeting after an attack. Someone greets us with a joke, someone talks about feeling tired, and someone simply asks us to stay a little longer.
During this extremely difficult winter, with support from Razom for Ukraine, we were able to support older Kyiv residents with warm kits and food packages. We brought warm blankets, thermoses, hot water bottles, and candles. In return, they shared their stories with us. Stories about the cold and darkness during power outages. About small habits that helped them keep going. And about human warmth that can be just as comforting as a warm blanket.
Behind every door, there is a person who deserves to be seen and heard. And a whole world of their own. We would like to introduce you to five women we met during our winter aid distribution. Each of them lived through this winter in her own way. But we got through it together.
“It feels awkward without makeup”
Nadiia welcomes us wearing makeup.
“I went to the clinic. It feels awkward without makeup,” she says with a smile.
Nadiia cares for her daughter, who has a disability.
When asked how they got through the winter, she replies:
— The power would go out, and then the heating would go off right away, and the hot water too. Everything disappears at once here. Thank God we have a gas stove. That saved us. We could turn on the gas and warm up a little.
She says that a power bank and other practical devices helped them get through the outages.
Nadiia has heart and thyroid problems, so she often has to visit doctors. She says the local social service center and social worker Valentyna take care of her.
Among the items in the warm kit, Nadiia was especially happy to receive the thermos and the blanket.
— I was especially happy to receive the thermos because I brew rosehip tea all the time. And the blanket too. It can be warm now, and then suddenly it gets cold again. What a beautiful blanket.
“…It was 10°C in the apartment”
On January 9, an attack damaged the windows in Natalia’s apartment, in the kitchen and on the balcony. They were temporarily sealed with plastic sheeting, but have not yet been replaced. The windows in the apartment are wooden.
— There was heating, but it was 10°C in the apartment.
Natalia is over 80. Even so, she is applying for assistance to restore the windows herself and goes to the hospital for medical check-ups.
From the Foundation, Natalia received a food package and a warmth kit. She was most surprised by the hot water bottle, but grateful for it. She says she knows the next winter will not be easier.
“Like everyone else”
We arrive at Yevheniia’s home just as she begins making pickle soup. The apartment smells delicious.
Yevheniia is 89. She cares for her son, who has limited mobility.
Before retiring, Yevheniia spent 17 years working as a sales assistant in a bridal salon in Kyiv. She says she has always loved beautiful things. She used to wear large earrings. Now she wears her mother’s lunnytsi — traditional crescent-shaped earrings.
When asked how she got through the winter, Yevheniia answers briefly: “Like everyone else.”
During blackouts, she used a flashlight. But she says she dreams of having a lamp that could provide light without interruption during blackouts.
“I just lie down, that’s all”
Tetiana is 77. She moves around her apartment with a walker and rarely goes outside. She cannot even collect her own mail, so she deeply appreciates the help of her social worker.
She needs regular medical check-ups but cannot get to the hospital on her own. The social worker helps arrange home visits by nurses.
Tetiana speaks calmly about power outages:
— The power went out, but that is bearable. And in the dark, what am I supposed to do? I just lie down, that’s all. I don’t walk anyway.
Sometimes a neighbour helps her by buying dairy products.
Tetiana says that a significant part of her pension goes toward medicine, which makes food support especially important.
— When your pension is 4,500 hryvnias and you have to pay for the apartment, you cannot refuse any kind of help.
“Please stay a little longer”
Antonina welcomes us very warmly.
She says the winter cold has taken its toll. Now, whenever the weather turns cooler again, her bones hurt more. At night, she wears gloves because her hands get very cold.
From the Foundation, Antonina received a warm kit and a food package.
We spend only ten minutes with her. In that time, we hear words of gratitude, stories of exhaustion, and a request to stay a little longer.
She is even ready to leave us her phone number, just so there might be someone to talk to from time to time…
This winter, we delivered warm kits and food packages to older people as part of a project supported by Razom for Ukraine. But we also made time to simply be present.
To listen to stories. To talk. To let a person feel that they are seen and heard.
Sometimes, a few minutes of conversation can mean much more than it seems.
Text by Marharyta Sklianychenko
Stories collected and documented by Dariia Titarova
Visual concept by Solomiia Chyzhyk