For a week, healthcare worker Sarah Easter spoke to people in the Russian-annexed areas of Cherson, Zaporizhia and Donetsk and found herself in a village that had been under Russian occupation for months. People told her that since the Russian attack two years ago, life had been “on pause” – that is, stopped – so to speak.
“The locals have the feeling of being frozen in time. It’s not living, it’s just surviving,” Easter reports. Currently, 3.3 million people live at the front – and therefore in a permanent ‘exceptional situation’. The Care Association for Development Cooperation also helps on the spot through psychosocial facilities to distract people’s minds from the war, at least for a short time.
In a village that was under Russian occupation for 100 days, a woman and her husband spent time in a cellar measuring two by two meters. She wrote the word “people” on the door so they wouldn’t be shot directly. 80 percent of the houses in the village are damaged, without roofs or windows. There is only occasional electricity and rarely running water. Meanwhile, the temperature drops to minus 20 degrees. Millions of people sit fully clothed in their basements or walk up and down their gardens to keep warm – when there are no mines. Otherwise, they only leave their homes for essentials such as food. No one knows if they will return from the market and if the house will still be there when they return. One woman told Easter that she only runs when she’s walking down the street because she’s scared.
Great solidarity among the people
Meanwhile, solidarity between people remains uninterrupted. You cannot speak for everyone, Easter emphasizes, but many want to continue defending their homes, so they stay on site and neighborhoods organize meals together. Ukrainian national feeling is still strong, even though the war is exhausting people. But it is not just the will to defend that keeps people staying, while in other parts of Ukraine there are more than four million internally displaced people. Some are too weak, too old or too poor to flee. And some of them have some of their family on one side and some on the other side of the front line. They don’t hear each other for months, don’t know where they are and wait for phone calls.
An injury to the Russian side would be tantamount to a death sentence, Easter reports on the experiences of those who survived the Russian occupation. No amount of medical care results in people bleeding to death from seemingly minor injuries. On the Ukrainian side, for such emergencies there are mobile teams that know where and when help is needed.
Children keep watch at night
Care helps national aid workers on the ground financially and through humanitarian services. Easter also emphasizes the psychological trauma that would result from the war. There are no longer any activities, especially for children, in regions close to the front; school is – if possible – online. She also talks about children who keep watch at night to warn family members of an attack. “First the daughter wakes up, then the mother takes over, the last hours of the night the grandmother stands at the window and listens to how far away the explosions are. During the day they come to the community centers where they learn to breathe again for a few hours.”
Sarah Easter is now back in Berlin. She wants the people behind the figures not to be forgotten and for other crises not to distract from how important humanitarian aid donations are for the people of Ukraine.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
