Tetiana Drobyazko

Tetiana Drobyazko is a strong-willed woman who has worked in construction all her life, endured many difficult moments, but never gives up and continues to hope for victory, dreaming that she will celebrate her 90th birthday at home.

Ms. Tetiana is from the village of Novotroyitske in Donetsk Oblast. In her 89 years, she has witnessed two wars, survived two occupations, and experienced the loss of loved ones. The Second World War left her with painful memories of a hungry childhood and constant life in a basement, where adults hid small children from the invaders. Enemy soldiers would take the food, so to feed the family, her parents would bury supplies in the ground.

Now, at such an advanced age, Tetiana Petrovna once again feels the familiar horror and panic, and memories of her childhood involuntarily resurface. She encountered the start of the full-scale invasion while in the hospital. Ms. Tetiana had contracted COVID and, due to complications, was receiving treatment at a medical facility. She woke up to the sound of the first airstrikes. All the patients were quickly evacuated to the bomb shelter. For several days, she lived in the hospital with the medical staff and other patients. They saved food and shared it equally—boiled potatoes and half a sausage per person.

As soon as the opportunity arose, the patients were evacuated. First, the elderly woman was sent to the Dnipropetrovsk region, then to Poland. Ms. Tetiana has serious vision problems and requires constant care. She has several severe diagnoses, in addition to cataracts. To improve her condition, she needs several surgeries, but due to the lack of funds, her situation continues to worsen every day. The elderly woman found it very difficult to be surrounded by strangers, in a foreign country with an unfamiliar language. She needed assistance that could not be provided, so she was forced to return to Ukraine.

Thanks to kind-hearted people, Ms. Tetiana ended up in a shelter in the village of Voynyliv. Here, she finally received help, a roof over her head, and warm, nutritious food. Ms. Tetiana is deeply grateful for the shelter, but her heart aches with longing for her home.

“I am so grateful for the way I was welcomed and sheltered here. I feel cared for and have a cozy place to stay, but it would be very difficult for me to manage on my own. However, I so badly want to go home, back to my familiar walls. I would even be ready to eat just bread and drink only water if I could step into my house once more,” Ms. Tetiana says, tears welling up in her eyes.

Tetyana Petrivna’s native village is currently under occupation. She does not know the fate of her house, nor is it clear if she will ever be able to return there. The woman lives in hope that the war will end soon and that she will be able to return to her beloved home.