Ukrainians Help Each Other Rebuild Destroyed Houses

During the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers destroyed millions of Ukrainian citizens’ lives, and a lot of people were left homeless.

Repair Together is a volunteer community that is helping the victims of the invaders to rebuild their homes. Their project “Winter is near” is the first large-scale media project in which famous people, with the help of their audience, raise funds for the restoration of damaged houses. To do this, the Repair Together team has organized construction camps, in which volunteers can join the restoration of destroyed property.

The aim of this project is to restore at least 12 houses and repair another 25 before winter starts. Today, with the help of partners, sponsors, foundations and large businesses, Repair Together has begun the construction of six facilities, organized eight construction camps and attracted more than 150 volunteers to the building.

“Buy coffee – give 4 bricks to the house.“

In addition to collaborations with famous people, Repair Together cooperates with other volunteer foundations, as well as medium and small businesses which sell their products and use the proceeds to restore housing for an affected family. For example, the Takava coffee chain is helping to raise funds for the restoration of Nina’s housing in the village of Lukashovka (Chernihiv region).

Nina is 39 years old. She is divorced and has a 16-year-old son who developed serious post-traumatic stress syndrome from the Russian invasion and a 15-year-old daughter. Now the family lives in the house of fellow villagers.

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Berezhinskaya, a theatre director, had railed against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, saying Moscow’s soldiers were killing civilians and destroying cities in a naked land grab.

Previously, Nina produced cheese and sold it to Kyiv universities but lost all her equipment along with her house. Now she is a small entrepreneur growing food in a garden and selling everything in Kyiv at a bazaar. She has her own small shop in the village which isn’t profitable since many people have left.

The team plans to restore Nina’s house by exchanging coffee for bricks.

“We will rebuild this house so that Nina’s family can spend the winter in it. But we need your help. We will exchange bricks for a house for coffee. How is that? You buy 1 pack of coffee in Takava – we get 4 bricks for the restoration of housing for Nina. Our goal: 8000 bricks, that is, 2000 packs of coffee,” Repair Together reports.

All sales go to recovery and the purchased pack of coffee can be sent to the front to the fighters.

Singer Onuka earns money for a house for the spouses of musicians.

The Chernihiv artist Onuka, also joined the restoration of destroyed communities. She is earning money for a house for the spouses of musicians Valentina and Sergey from Lukashovka.

Together with the team, the singer is preparing a video lecture about Ukrainian folk instruments: their history, origin, purpose, sound and reinterpretation. The lectures will be recorded in the workshop of Nata’s grandfather, the famous master of folk instruments Alexander Shlenchik in Chernihiv.

“Since the beginning of the war, I have been living in Kyiv and Chernihiv, but also touring with charity concerts around the world. Only at home, in Ukraine, do I feel real life: I live the day for a reason. I feel the importance of every minute here. This is our tragic, but invaluable experience: Few nations in the world have it, because it is unique to be witnesses and participants in historical events. It seems to me that our context shows people at lightning speed, and just as quickly you understand who you are,” says Onuka.

The Stones is a project illustrating the loss of Ukrainians’ homes abroad.

The Stones project is the first project that demonstrates to people abroad the scale of the destruction of the homes of Ukrainian citizens. The open-air exhibition will be held in Amsterdam, Prague, Paris, Warsaw, Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda and Berlin.

About 300 people from these countries joined the project as a manifestation of solidarity and humanity, distributing information about the extent of the destruction caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The project participants place thousands of posters in each of the cities and on Sept. 4, 1,000 pieces of bricks from destroyed Ukrainian houses were placed with a poster “imagine that this is all that remains of someone’s house.”