‘Their lives will never be the same again’
Three years of conflict have shattered the lives of individuals and communities throughout Ukraine. Here, World Food Programme Field Monitor Tatiana Stoliarenko gives an emotional account of the impact of conflict on her country and its people, and her efforts to help those affected.
I chose to become a humanitarian and to work for the World Food Programme (WFP) because I think it’s a great opportunity to help and support people in need. Ukraine is a developed country, and I find it so sad that people need humanitarian assistance to survive. People are suffering a lot although this wasn’t their political choice.
What I find most difficult is speaking with people affected by the war, seeing how helpless and hopeless they are, and not being able to do more to help them. People’s lives have been shattered, and we do all we can to help, but we know that their lives will never be the same again. For me, ‘humanity’ means providing assistance to those who need it while observing humanitarian principles. People are suffering because of the war and it is our duty to help them.
Ukraine was peaceful and beautiful
Before the conflict, Ukraine was a peaceful and beautiful country. Although it is not a rich country, it has good fertile soil, developed agriculture and, most importantly, kind and welcoming people. The conflict started at a period when everything seemed to be positive. Many people had taken loans to buy houses and apartments, or do renovation. No one ever imagined that an armed conflict could affect our country.
As the conflict unfolded, month after month, we followed the situation and I was devastated by the unexpectedness and brutality of the war my country was suddenly plunged into. Everyone tried to help their neighbours and relatives as much as they could, by collecting money, food and clothes to give to people who had to leave their homes and had nothing left. More and more people were affected and had to leave their homes, which made me feel that I wanted to do more and be closer to these people.
Through my work with WFP, I have become more aware of how the conflict has affected the lives of my countrymen and women — which is much more terrifying than what I could have imagined. Three years into the conflict, some people continue to hear shelling at night. Loss of jobs, lack of resources, destroyed infrastructure and restriction of movement have left thousands of people in a desperate situation.
Providing assistance for a day, a month, three months
What we can do for them? I know we cannot fix everything, but we can provide something for a day, a month or three months. As a field monitor, I am regularly in contact with the people we help. I try to remain kind and patient while sometimes I deal with people who are angry, irritated and upset — which is a natural human reaction when you’ve lost your loved ones or your house, or when you are separated from your relatives.
The most difficult thing is when people ask you: “Why this is happening? When will the war stop?” “Can we please go to the way we were before?” We live in a developed country and some people rely on humanitarian assistance to survive — it makes me really sad, but it also gives a lot of meaning to the work that we do.
The World Food Programme plans to provide food assistance to 220,000 people in conflict-affected areas of eastern Ukraine. This builds on the work already done since November 2014 to reach internally displaced people and those returning to, or still living in, the east, through food parcels and cash-based transfers. To date, over 830,000 among the most vulnerable people have received food from WFP in spite of a volatile security situation restricting humanitarian staff movements.
