Working in the field of humanitarian aid requires sacrifice and great endurance. For many Ukrainians, war became the impetus for such activities. But for Irina Ozhehova, it was already a regular lifestyle. Her entire family has been actively volunteering and helping people for over 10 years, since the annexation of Crimea and Donbas.
Irina herself has been passionate about social work almost since childhood. She understood firsthand the significance of risking one's life to save others and possessed the ability to build robust teams and devise solutions during crises. Recently, she joined CARE Ukraine as a Rapid Response Officer, which enabled her to engage in large-scale projects and extend assistance to even more individuals.
"Comparing 2014 to the present," reminisces Irina, "despite similar challenges, the nature of the work was distinct. Back then, we had almost no international support and the war was something distant and alien even for Ukrainians. We collaborated with a group of compassionate individuals who organized themselves, recognizing the impending challenges of war. War entails more than just death and destruction; it brings injuries, hunger, and refugees. And Dnipro was already a transit city for people evacuating from the war zone. We were coordinating these processes manually. Now, fortunately, we have international support and the capacity to provide comprehensive assistance and support to the survivors. This is what drew me to an international organization," explains Irina.
War and fears
Irina has been involved in helping all her life. So, when it came to the question of whether to leave Dnipro or stay and help others evacuate, she did not hesitate for a second. “Assisting people isn't an extraordinary feat,” Irina reflects, “it's a way of life”. Places like Bakhmut, Rubizhne, Lysychansk, and Severodonetsk became familiar destinations for her. This required more and more effort and resources, as the road which used to take 6.5 hours now takes almost two days. Checkpoints, destroyed roads, and difficulties in coordination made adjustments to the logistics routes, but did not stop the desire to help.
“We sometimes even spent nights on floors somewhere, but we persevered. We delivered humanitarian aid: medicines, hygiene supplies, blankets. We returned with people and belongings hastily packed into evacuation bags,” recalls Irina.
“I've never experienced fear on any mission,” Irina states. “Occasionally, we faced gunfire and bombardment. Yet, fear emerged later – when you return home and contemplate the potential outcomes, the consequences it might have carried. That's when fear sets in. In such situations, reflexive actions take over.”
Irina believes that adaptation to a state of war has already occurred, but there's much left to learn. “Ukrainians still need to develop social protection system, medical support for veterans, as well as mechanisms for their adaptation and employment. This is a path we're yet to tread.”
"Assisting people isn't an extraordinary feat, it's a way of life."- Irina Ozhehova
Faces of the rescued
Over the years of volunteering, Irina has helped hundreds of people. “At first, I memorized their names. I kept in touch with them. Now there are so many of them that they have merged into a kaleidoscope of faces. I remember only faces and stories. I remember a young woman we rescued from Sievierodonetsk. She was holding a child and a bag with children's things in one hand, and a sewing machine in the other, which later helped her earn a small living. I remember a family that ran out of the basement of a completely destroyed house to meet us with only documents and a kitten in their arms. I remember when we were transporting so many people that they were just sitting on the bags. But we still carried a chinchilla, a fish in a bag and a shepherd dog.” Now, Irina often regrets that she did not start chronicling those events. There were so many people's stories that they intertwined and mixed, losing their individual faces and gaining one collective face of war.
After being transported to Dnipro, Irina helped people settle down. She looked for shelter for some, sent some to the hospital for rehabilitation, while others decided to move on and took an evacuation train to the West and abroad. “I let all these stories pass through me. But I also had to write chronicles so that I could tell my children and grandchildren that war is about people. That you know them personally, that they are individuals, not just statistics and numbers.” Irina is proud that everyone she evacuated made it out alive and can continue to build their lives, because that is the only thing worth appreciating.
War`s lessons
“This war has one small advantage, no matter how scary it may sound. The war made it possible to see the true qualities of people, to understand who is filled with what. Perhaps even these people did not know what they were like. And the war showed everyone who they are,” says Irina. She recalls that her keen sense of justice has always distinguished her from others. But now, more than ever, it has become a litmus test for her work.
The support of her family also played a very important role. Because when you don't know what to expect from tomorrow, you try to make the most of every moment. And if your family understands you and helps you with this, it is invaluable.
Now Irina feels that she is in her place. Together with CARE, she can plan large-scale projects aimed not only at evacuating people but also at providing long-term support to survivors: financial, psychological, and legal. This makes her happy even in this burning vortex of war.
Individuals like Irina exemplify that volunteering and humanitarian aid are not just professions, but also states of mind. Only those who possess the internal reservoir and desire to assist those in need can ensure that goodness persists in the world.