Food for body and soul

Editor’s note: Only first names of Ukrainians are used for their security.

Valentina remembers the day her husband was killed, two years ago, like it just happened. He was tending to the vegetable garden at their house in Nikopol, Ukraine, when they heard the Russian military’s artillery fire.

It came from the nuclear power plant that the military had commandeered, less than 2 miles from their house.

Shells were commonly launched from there toward Nikopol, a city along the Dnipro River. Already the local reservoir that held the city’s drinking water had been destroyed. Houses were blown up, and gas and electrical lines had been hit. 

Valentina, 63, screamed toward her husband, “Just lay down. Lay down.” Whether it was her warning or he did what all Ukrainians now do instinctively to minimize the chances of being hit by shrapnel or debris, he lay down. Then the next shell fell.

The windows of their house shattered.

Knocked down by the impact, Valentina crawled toward her husband. “You’re alive; you’re alive,” she cried out to him, as if willing it to be true. When she reached him, she saw that he was not.

“It was very hard for me,” says Valentina of the months that followed, as she grieved and the shelling continued. “I was crying all the time.”

Some acquaintances encouraged her to join them at New Life Charitable Fund, an MCC partner in Nikopol, where she could get food and other supplies. Valentina was reluctant, embarrassed to ask for help. 

Many are elderly or have a disability or chronic illness; they struggled to live on fixed incomes before the war even started, says Natalia, director of New Life. Now, rising food costs have outpaced the pensions or stipends they receive from the government.

One recipient, Anna, cares for her disabled father-in-law and her son, Sashko, 6, who has not yet been able to talk. Seeking a diagnosis for Sashko requires seeing multiple specialists and getting medical tests in Dnipro, an upriver city that is a two-hour drive from Nikopol.

Anna’s husband’s salary from a chicken farm and her father-in-law’s pension don’t cover all their existing bills.

So New Life has been paying for Sashko’s medical visits and assigned a social worker to coordinate his care — from keeping track of records and appointments to advocating for the family within the medical system.

The family also benefits from New Life’s food packages, which each contain a three-month supply of locally purchased staples, including grains, flour, beans, oil, vegetables, meat, milk products, tea and more. Out of everything, Sashko likes buckwheat grain cooked with MCC’s “really tasty” canned meat the best, his mother says. 

In Dnipro, MCC’s partner Step with Hope also embraces people who are struggling to cope with the emotional and financial pressures of the war.

That includes offering psychological services for children and adults, whose needs have intensified during the war. Psychologists are prepared to go out to support survivors, day or night, when a missile strikes.

Many families have come there from Ukraine’s easternmost Donbas region, says project manager Izabella. They come with stories of living in basements and being chased or attacked as Russian forces took control of most of the region.

“When people move to a different city, they don’t have much choice where to go, what to do,” Izabella says. That’s one reason why Step with Hope issues monthly food vouchers, valued at about US$35, to more than 1,000 people.  

The vouchers, which are funded through MCC’s account at Canadian Foodgrains Bank, give people a choice of what food to buy. With that choice comes a sense of feeling special, she says, “a feeling they haven’t had for a while.”

Although displaced people perceive Dnipro as a safer city with housing and job opportunities, longtime residents of the city also have been traumatized by war.

Hanna, 71, who is a retired nurse and can only walk with crutches, recalls the airport near her house being shelled. “It was very scary. Everything was shaking.”

With her family unable to support her, she relies on her monthly pension of US$104 to pay for her medication, medical expenses, utilities and phone bill. Through Step with Hope’s food vouchers, she can eat three meals a day instead of two, she says. 

Back at New Life, the hot, three-course lunch draws at least 200 people each weekday.

“This is homemade food. It’s filled with good calories,” says Valentina. “They also take into account people’s health, like dietary needs. People love this food very much.”

Although lunch is served from 12 to 3 p.m., many people arrive at the center by 8 a.m.

“People come and they talk,” says Natalia, who leads the organization with a heart for physical, emotional and spiritual needs. “They can go away from their own problems and just spend time resting a bit.”  She offers a Bible-based support group for the most vulnerable women in the community. Psychological care is available, and volunteers lead additional support groups — including one that Valentina attends. 

“I just prefer to be among people,” Valentina says, “because just to stay by myself in the house is hard. If I wouldn’t have met [the staff], I would still be screaming and suffering in my grief back at home.”

She continues to garden at home, refusing to allow weeds and fear to take over, despite the missiles that are still launched nearby. She brings vegetables, fresh and canned, from her garden to New Life to share with others.

“A lot of people are in need,” she says, “and I try to support them and to help them. Good has been done to me, and I want to do good to others.” 

Linda Espenshade is news coordinator for MCC U.S.

Top photo: Valentina, in light blue shirt, chats with friends before lunch in Nikopol, Ukraine. Last name not used for security reasons. (New Life Charitable Fund/Pavlo)