House is a physical place to live, home is created by people that live there. My family in Ukraine will lose their home, their place of refuge.
I grew up in Ukraine and lived with my family in the same apartment for about 13 years. The whole time my mom lived there with my brother Vova. My uncle lived in a separate tiny apartment but he would come often to visit my mom and Vova.
In Ukraine, you need to file a document that seals apartment to you, in other words, it means that apartment is officially yours and the government cannot take it from you. (Yes, in Ukraine government has rights to do that if an apartment is not sealed to the owner). My grandma was the owner of the apartment but she never sealed her apartment. When my grandma died she also left big debt on my mom (about 108077.36 hryvnias of debt). Now, my mom has big debt and she lives in apartment that will be taken away from her anytime soon because it is technically government's apartment. For now, government let her use two out of four rooms but it is not for too long...
My mom is a single mom and she is not able to pay my grandma's debt and neither can she afford to buy a house for her and for my brother Vova. She is a single mom and her monthly salary is about $70. On a top of my mom's small salary, she is trying to raise her son that has disabilities (there will be a post soon about Vova and his disabilities).
Here are pictures taken by my mom of her living conditions before the war. On the slideshow in this post, you can see that the apartment is not fully furnished. There is no modern technology. My mom and brother have to sleep on very old couches that have ripped foam. Bathroom has cracks in the walls and the main pipe in the toilet is about to explode. One of the "luxuries" that my mom enjoys in her bathroom is washing machine that I was able to buy for her because of the generous donations of family and friends. Kitchen has a very small fridge that cannot fit much food at all. My mom has to be very creative on how to keep food fresh for Vova.
You donations will mean that one humble family will have a place to live in. One donation will help them to reach their goal. Your donations also will mean a lot to me and my husband. We cannot do it without you!
If you have any questions at all, please reach out to me. You can find how to contact me under Contact tab. Thank you so much for being here and reading my post!
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