Nataliia and her mother outside their new home, accompanied by a Medair staff member. OCHA/Anita Rudyk
“I never imagined I would be a farmer,” said 39-year-old Nataliia, standing outside her new home in Sapizhanka Village, in central Ukraine’s Vinnytsia Region. I could see hope in her eyes, despite everything she’s been through. She worked as a logistician back home in Sievierodonetsk, in Luhansk Region, but she and her family were forced to flee in 2022 because of the escalating war in Ukraine.
Nataliia, her husband and two children, her parents and her two elderly grandparents all sought safety in this village. For three months they lived in a kindergarten-turned-shelter for displaced people, set up by local authorities.
Nataliia immediately engaged in volunteer activities to support her family and people who had also been forced from their homes because of Russia’s invasion.
But a few months later, her conversations with staff from the international non-governmental organization (NGO) Medair brought new ideas and perspectives for her family’s future. Through a Medair programme that helps internally displaced persons, Nataliia and her family found an uninhabited house in a rural area on the outskirts of Vinnytsia Town, and they worked to make it livable again.
Nataliia watches over the hen house. OCHA/Anita Rudyk
Medair (funded by the UN Refugee Agency) provided beds, fixed the water supply system, and provided a power accumulator to supply electricity, heating and Internet, which enabled family members to work and study remotely. Other humanitarian organizations including Moya Luhanshchyna, Caritas, the International Organization for Migration and the NGO Right to Protection also supported this four-generation family with legal assistance, medicines, food parcels and kitchen utensils.
“I never raised chickens before, but this is a valuable experience,” said Nataliia, while showing me the eggs she’d collected, always with a smile. She explained her plans to cultivate the land and someday turn her new farming skills into a business. Medair plans to organize training on farming and raising livestock, which will support Nataliia’s business goals in 2024.
Humanitarians provided Nataliia and her family with a motorized cultivator to help them farm their land and store enough food to sustain themselves in the coming year. OCHA/Anita Rudyk
Thanks to humanitarians’ support, Nataliia and her family are enjoying the warmth and comfort of their new home. OCHA/Anita Rudyk
Nataliia is grateful for the support she received, and for Medair’s confidence in her efforts and new beginnings. “I could not have done this alone,” she said.
Valentyna Tkachuk, a Project Manager at Medair, oversees protection and psychosocial initiatives. She explained that in 2023 her team helped more than 560 displaced families to transition from collective sites to new communities.
“Our approach begins with discussing opportunities with people living at the sites,” she said. “Initially, people often feel they lack options after losing homes and jobs. However, through consultations, they discover numerous possibilities, eventually securing new homes and livelihoods.”
In 2023, humanitarians supported more than 3.8 million people displaced by the war in Ukraine. They assisted more than 100,000 people in Vinnytsia Region who had relocated there.
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