Anastasia
At the start of the full-scale war, Anastasia was in Lviv, as she was finishing her final year of university and working as a journalist for a local online publication. However, on February 24, she decided to return to her family in the Kyiv region, which, as it later turned out, was an occupied city.
During the occupation, Nastya, along with a friend and her godmother, volunteered at a kindergarten where people were taken during evacuations. There, she compiled lists of people being evacuated through green corridors and helped with humanitarian aid that volunteers managed to bring in.
«When the Ukrainian military began to approach Borodianka, we brought them food. We collected thermoses from those who had them and filled them with hot soup or tea. My mom baked bread because there was nowhere to get food—almost all the stores were destroyed right away. They had food, but in such weather, it was impossible to eat those canned goods and other supplies,” Nastya recalls.», – Nastya shares..
It wasn’t until the end of March that they managed to reach a safe place, spending almost another month in a village in the Lviv region.
“There were 13 of us in a small three-room house without heating, water, or basic amenities. There was only electricity, but it was still better than being under air raids,” the girl recalls.
When the region was de-occupied and Nastya’s family could safely return to Kyiv and Borodianka, she went back to Lviv. During this time, whenever possible, she continued working as a journalist remotely, but it was time to resume full-time work.
Nastya joined the foundation by chance. A friend mentioned during a meeting that they were looking for a PR manager and project manager for the foundation and suggested she try it out. She had been considering a job change for a while but was unsure if she could handle a completely new role.
“For me, the key was that I would be useful to the people who protect us every day. Among them, from the first months of the full-scale invasion, were my dad and godfather. I had long felt that I wasn’t doing enough by just donating money, so I decided to try. I have never regretted it because I found myself among conscious people who understand that the war has affected everyone and that we cannot stand aside. If not at the front, we must do everything to support those who risk their lives there for us,” Nastya shares.