Liliya Babych from Mariupol
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We are a family from Mariupol. I have a little son who is currently 3 years old, his name is Vadim. When the war started, we were at home in Mariupol, we didn’t think it would start so quickly. We did not have time to leave and we had to live under occupation for a month.
There was no electricity, no gas, no water… It was very cold, we spent a month in a basement in the city center, not far from the bombed-out Drama Theater. We hardly ever left the basement because there was constant shelling. The child was small and he did not quite understand what was happening. But after we left, he was very afraid of water for 2 months, because we were without water for a month and he had a psychological trauma from that.
The most terrible moment was when the house we were staying in was burning, there were no other exits, we could not leave because there were mines and shelling. We thought we would burn to death.
Before the war, I worked at a factory as a crane operator. Now I can’t get a job in my specialty because my eyesight has dropped significantly due to stress. I can no longer work in my specialty.
At the moment, we do not receive any social assistance, we do not receive IDP benefits, they were taken away from us. We rent housing and have financial difficulties because the child is often sick. I can’t get a job, I’m constantly looking after the child. We need financial assistance to buy winter clothes.
Most of all, I am afraid that we will be under occupation again, I am very afraid of it, it is very scary. People there are disenfranchised, outrages are happening there. They just take people away, shoot them.