by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director
As is the case with displaced Ukrainians, most of the women at the shelter are on their own. Most of their men joined the military when the war started. In some isolated cases, men stayed behind in danger zones to take care of elderly family members.
As I write this post, about 40 women and children are living at the LHI Shelter in Lviv. I got to spend a memorable day with them last month. Please bear with me as I try to fit such an incredible experience into a little blog post nugget.
The visit starts with me almost tripping over a large cat just casually sleeping in the middle of the main room. Ilona, one of the women at the shelter, explains that the cat had wandered in just a few weeks after the war started… and subsequently gave birth to 4 kittens.
“We didn’t have the heart to turn the little cat family away, probably because they’re just like us. Maybe their owners had to flee in a rush. Maybe their homes are gone.” She adds laughing, “We call them Children of the War. I guess we’re basically cats.”
I can’t multitask very well. Once I picked up the kitten and got distracted by other things, I forgot I was holding that poor thing until it literally clawed my arms about 30 minutes later.
The women run the day-to-day operations of the shelter. Ilona, who is a former soldier and mother of 5, is the de facto head manager. Her main responsibility is registering new arrivals and assigning others to prepare their spaces and some food.
Ilona’s husband, also a soldier, was already on active duty when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. She and her children, including her newborn son, were living in a town in the Zaporizhzhya region which was quickly occupied by Russian soldiers. They retreated to their basement for safety, where they managed to stay for 3 months without running water or reliable cell phone service. “A lot of elderly people died from the stress. We buried a lot of people. I used to be a soldier, so I could handle these conditions.” But, finally food became too expensive, and conditions too unsafe. Ilona gathered her children and fled.
I got to witness Ilona’s leadership in action as she comforted a woman named Xenia who was tearfully telling us about her 4-month-old baby who died because of the war. Ilona stood by her, gently stroking her arm and said reassuringly, “I hope the war will end very soon.” Xenia replied, “I hope for that very much. I want to go home. My son is buried there. I want to go to him.”
Longing for home is a theme amongst the women in the shelter. An elderly woman named Vasilevna tells me, “They promise Kherson will be liberated in August. Once it is liberated, I will go home the next day. I won’t wait a single day. I will walk home if I need to.”
This is Ilona welcoming newcomers to the LHI Shelter. I had to steal this photo from a video, so please excuse the quality. But, this image encapsulates Ilona in action!
As for Ilona, her work is cut out for her. Her adorable toddler wakes up from a nap just as a new mother and child arrive. I have to hand off the kitten so that I can hold her son while she goes to welcome the new arrivals. As Ilona walks away, she says, “The war will end sooner or later. We just have to be patient.”
To hear the stories of the women of the LHI Shelter in their own voices, please watch the video below.