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Aid worker diary: "A year ago, no one was displaced..."

13 March 2015, Donetsk, Ukraine - Valentina and her great grandchildren sit in an underground bomb shelter that has been their home for the last six months. (Credit: OCHA/O. Osinskiy)

Oleksandr Osinskiy is an OCHA Humanitarian Adviser based in his war-battered hometown of Donetsk, Ukraine. He has lived and worked in Donetsk all his life. In his current assignment, he sees the situation in Ukraine as both a humanitarian worker and an affected person.

The crisis in Ukraine will enter its second year in April. After everything I have seen – deaths, despair, destruction, separated families, treatable diseases going untreated – I find it hard to believe that just a year ago no one was displaced. Now, over 1 million fellow Ukrainians have registered as internally displaced and 5 million need humanitarian assistance.

Fragile peace means little to affected people

Several weeks have passed in relative calm since the latest ceasefire agreement in Ukraine. But the quiet seems to mean little to people whose lives have been shattered by fighting.

Valentina* and 12 of her family members, including great grandchildren, have been living in an underground bomb shelter in our hometown of Donetsk. It’s been six months now, and they are not planning to leave anytime soon.

“We don’t have anywhere to go and we fear that peace will not hold up again,” said Valentina, sitting on a makeshift bed covered by layers of carpets. In August, Valentina and her family fled worsening violence in Donetsk. But their meagre savings kept them afloat only until October, when they found themselves at the doorsteps of rubble that used to be their home. “We are just a few steps away from our home, but only our bathroom is still standing,” Valentina told me.

I understand returnees such as Valentina. She and her family are living in limbo, trying to figure out the safest option. I also moved my family out of Donetsk in August, only to have them return a month later. It takes a lot of strength to leave behind your hard-earned possessions, home and jobs - all that’s familiar. So we cling to the little that is left of our past lives amid uncertainty, lack of medical care and economic chaos.

“We are here to listen to you”

Being part of OCHA, I can see that many people and organizations are striving to help Ukraine. Last year, donors gave over US$30 million to enable the humanitarian community to deliver life-saving assistance. This year, we need at least 10 times that amount if we are to avert a major humanitarian crisis.

The recent visit of emergency directors to my hometown and nearby city of Dnipropetrovsk reaffirmed that the crisis is one of the most tragic today. It also demonstrated that the international community cares and is paying attention.

“We must not allow the political nature of this crisis to prevent us from reaching people in need,” OCHA Operations Director John Ging reiterated again and again in his meetings with authorities, humanitarian partners and the displaced. “It is unacceptable that people are living in fear, poor health and dire living conditions. We are here to listen to you and take your messages back to decision makers,” he reassured displaced people.

After the group’s mission is over, we – dozens of humanitarian partners working in eight crucial areas – will continue doing our best to help affected people with the resources we have. But we need all the support we can get in order to provide proper and timely assistance.

*Name changed