Unbreakable Moms: I went out to the balcony and saw that the building we lived in was gone
The war brought trouble to Natalia’s family – they lost their home. The hardship took a toll on the woman and her children, so she turned to the Unbreakable Mom project for help.
My name is Natalia, I am 47 years old. I am from Zaporizhzhia, and I am a mother of two boys. The elder, Yaroslav, is 6 years old, and the younger, Sashko, has recently turned 5.
When the full-on war began, we, like most, were terrified. But I still believed that we were safe in Zaporizhzhia. The building we lived in was in the heart of the city, on Stalevariv Avenue. There were no military or energy facilities nearby. I was sure nothing would happen to us. But we still taught the children to go to the corridor in case of alarm – to hide behind two walls.
On the night of October 6, we were woken up by a very powerful explosion. Windows were blown out, glass was scattered all over the place. My children, my husband, who slept in the next room, and I rushed to the corridor. Then there was a second explosion. Even more terrible, even louder, even more destructive… The wall in the room where my husband slept fell down. Had he not run out of there a few seconds before, he would have remained under the rubble. Plaster fell off the walls, furniture was damaged. Something started hissing, I was afraid it was gas. In those seconds, I thought we were going to die. That this was the end. The children were shaking, I have no words to describe the state they were in.
Then we tried to open the front door, but it was blocked. The apartment opposite did not exist anymore, just like the stairs. But we did not realize it. When rescuers arrived, we went to the remains of the balcony so that they could bring us down. Then I saw that the building we lived in was gone. I took the most essential things with me – underwear and… borscht. A rescuer wondered why my bag was so heavy. But I am a mom, I had to feed my children.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Unbreakable Mom is a project of the Masha Foundation. The Saving Lives humanitarian initiative, launched by Metinvest Group in coordination with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, joined the Unbreakable Mom program. This project was created to stabilize the psycho-emotional state of participants, prevent the development of PTSD, develop the adaptability and self-realization, and create new social ties.
We moved to a summer house and learned how to light a stove. We live there now because the remains of the building we lived in will be demolished. Many of our neighbours were killed. We survived by a miracle. Our apartment on the third floor survived, but all those around did not.
After that, my eldest son, Yarik, began to stutter. And the younger one, Sasha, began to be afraid of being alone in the room, I have to be with him all the time. When they heard a siren, they would hide under the table. I thought for a long time that the war did not affect me because I am a strong woman. That was until I realized that, despite my small weight, I had lost 10 kilograms.
Unbreakable Mom’s psychologists brought us back to life. My children relaxed, they started to smile and be mischievous again. I never thought I would enjoy their mischief. When I send our photos from the camp to our loved ones, they write back: “Natalia, you are smiling! Finally!” I have started gaining weight. But the main thing is that here I have learned to understand my emotions and feelings, to understand what is happening to me, and learned to stabilize myself during stress. And I know for sure: we will survive, we will endure. The war has upset our plans for the future, but it will not break us.