Photo: Iris Januska
When we arrive, she smiles.
Oksana is well over eighty years old. She moves slowly through what was once her home. Around her lie stones, rubble, and the remnants of a lifetime's work. But instead of talking about destruction, she shows us her roses. Afterward, she proudly leads us through her vegetable garden, where tomatoes, beans, and flowers grow.
Before the war, Oksana lived happily in the house she and her husband had built over decades. Every stone was the result of hard work and many sacrifices. Here her children grew up, here the memories of a lifetime were made.
This house was destroyed on March 23, 2022, during the Russian attack on Kyiv.
But Oksana refused to leave.
“Here are my memories. Here I lived with my husband. Here is my home,” she says.
While millions of Ukrainians were forced to leave their homeland, Oksana chose to stay. Today she lives in a simple container at the edge of her garden. In winter it is bitterly cold, in summer unbearably hot. Nevertheless, she has no intention of giving up.
Her garden is her daily resistance against despair.
What impresses us most, however, is her deep love for Ukraine. Although she herself receives only small amounts of support from the Ukrainian state and from kleine herzen When she receives money, she donates a large portion of it to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Not out of a sense of duty, but out of conviction.
Even in her old age, Oksana wages her own battle – not with weapons, but with courage, dignity, and unwavering loyalty to her country. Her patriotism is not expressed in grand pronouncements. It is shown in her decision to stay, to not abandon her homeland, and to begin anew each morning.
Photos: Iris Januska and kleine herzen
Today, the calls from her children and grandchildren are her greatest treasure. And her garden, which she lovingly tends day after day.
