For families in Ukraine, coping with the ongoing war has become more difficult with each passing day as the crisis extends from major cities to isolated villages. Essential resources like electricity and water have become increasingly scarce. As shelling and drone attacks become more frequent, families like Yelyzaveta’s have found themselves living under the constant shadow of war. That changed this past month when they were able to make aliyah with help from The Fellowship.
Yelyzaveta, her husband Stanislav, and their son Mark are from Dnipro, one of the cities hit hardest at the start of the war. Mark was born just two weeks before the war began in 2022. During this time, the family evacuated to a village in western Ukraine to stay with relatives. What was intended to be a two-week stay turned into six months before they were able to return to Dnipro. Yelyzaveta says it was impossible to find work or earn an income while they were evacuating, with all their money going toward food and baby supplies.
She says, “The war affected every part of our lives. But you can’t get used to war. You can’t get used to shelling. You’re afraid all the time. Afraid for yourself, afraid for your family, afraid the power or water will shut off, afraid you won’t have enough money for food. Shelling. Power outages. Last winter, we had electricity for only an hour and a half a day. We had running water for just an hour and a half, too, because the pumps couldn’t operate the rest of the time.”
The family had been planning aliyah for years. After several delays, they finalized their decision in September and contacted us for assistance. Besides facilitating their freedom flight to Israel, The Fellowship helped cover the cost of additional luggage so the family could bring cherished belongings, including Mark’s toys, photo albums, and keepsakes. Their travel was also carefully coordinated to avoid attacks on Ukraine’s train lines, gas stations, and bridges. The family is now happily settling into life in the Holy Land.
Yelyzaveta said, “With The Fellowship, we knew we would make it. The route was carefully planned, including an overnight stay before crossing the border into Moldova, and another before our flight, so we could catch our breath after all the travel and stress.”