Those Who Stayed
DestiNations, in collaboration with the women's resource "Unity," presents a project that will tell the stories of women who, after escaping from occupied territories, stayed in free Ukraine. Each interview is a living testimony of ordinary women about epoch-making historical events unfolding in the heart of Europe. Despite our heroines' trials, each is filled with resilient strength, unyielding spirit, and boundless faith in victory.
Articles of the Theme
"We are branches, you are roots. And roots must be on native soil." - Emotional story by Lilia from Zaporizhzhia.
Our project "Those Who Remain", created together with the website for women "Yedynna", continues. Today we are presenting another story that we are sure will not only impress you but also inspire you....
"We just need to live and not wait. But it doesn't work out... You wait." - Katya from Melitopol and her family
We continue to tell the stories of Ukrainian women and their families who were forced to leave their homes because of the war as part of the project "Those Who Remained", which we are implementing in collaboration with the website for women "Yedynna".
Mariupol, Bakhmut, Sievierodonetsk... and today Melitopol is on the list. The geography of the project is expanding....
"This Is a Special Kind of Nostalgia - Buying Things That Were Lost" - An Interview with Nadia from Severodonetsk
Nadia Cherepova (Somova) is a photographer from Severodonetsk. She lives in Dnipro with her large family: husband, two-year-old daughter, parents, a dignified elderly large dog, and a cat. Her story is similar and completely different from many Ukrainians who left their hometowns due to the war. Similar because it involves losses, pain, and the search for a place in new circumstances, and different in every manifestation of individual lives....
"My name is Nina, I'm from the city of Bakhmut" - the story of a Ukrainian woman who deeply misses her native home.
When Nina talks about her hometown, she barely holds back tears. She smiles and says, "Well, here we go. I was so prepared for this interview. I thought I would hold it together. It's a good thing it's not a video. What a sight that would be."...
"Those Who Stayed!" Project "Back then, I didn't know I was going to another Ukraine" - story of a woman from Mariupol
Internal displacement exists in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainian men and women have moved from occupied or frontline territories to safer places like Kyiv, Dnipro, and Lviv. They moved to dozens of cities, towns, and villages that are also shelled, where people also die, but, of course, not to the same extent as in the places from which the internally displaced persons (IDPs) fled......