Two years, eight months and twenty-five days: that’s how long it’s been since the start of the war in Ukraine. Mehad’s teams on the ground are continuing to support the affected populations and to work with local health workers on essential training, rehabilitation and psychological support programmes. They themselves are personally affected by this war. Eyewitness accounts from Anna, head of the “Training” programme, and Taras, a physiotherapist in the “Rehabilitation” programme who has been mobilised to the front.
Anna: “I had to flee to protect my daughter”.
“When the war started, my daughter was only 3 years old. Today, she is almost twice that age. I can’t believe this is real,” says Anna, who is responsible for Mehad’s “Training” programme in Ukraine.
The young woman, a single mother, lived in Kharkiv. “I could have left a long time ago, but I wanted to stay until the last moment. But my daughter was developing stress syndrome because of the constant noise of the explosions and the constant running to the shelters. At that moment, I realised that I had to leave to protect her.
I just took my daughter, a few things for her, my dog and her bowl, and left. I realised later that I hadn’t even taken a single change of clothes for myself. I could never have imagined that I would have to flee like that, leaving my whole life behind”.
“Why aren’t you doing anything? Can’t you see what’s happening?”
A refugee in Warsaw – she has since returned to Kharkiv – Anna remembers: “I was with other Ukrainian women. When I was talking to them, I realised that when we saw the skyscrapers when we arrived in Warsaw, we all had the same thought: what if a bomb hit here? We imagined shards of glass flying everywhere, injuring and killing so many people. This thought alone reflected the extent to which our perception was marked by the constant threat of destruction and war”.
The contrast between ‘normal’ life in Warsaw and the chaos she left behind was also difficult for Anna: “Back home, our houses were destroyed by foreign hands, and children and adults died every day. But here in Warsaw, everything seemed normal. At times like that, I wanted to shout out: “Why aren’t you doing anything? Can’t you see what’s happening? Children are dying, people are suffering, and yet you go on with your lives as if nothing had happened!
Taras: from the rehabilitation centre to the front line
Over the last few months, in addition to direct attacks – our rehabilitation centre in Kyev was bombed last July – the rehabilitation programme team, three of whose members have also had to flee their region because of the attacks, has also suffered a notable loss: that of Taras.
The head of the physiotherapy teams was forced to join the Ukrainian army at the front.
“Taras joined our team in October 2023 as a physiotherapy supervisor in Kyiv. He then became responsible for all the physiotherapy teams in Kyiv and Vinnytsia, as well as providing the main training for our sessions. On 9 August 2024, he was arrested at a military checkpoint and immediately enrolled in the army. After two months’ training, he was sent to fight in the Donetsk region”, explains Natalia, the person in charge of Mehad’s ‘Rehabilitation’ programme.
“He is not only an incredible physiotherapist, manager and trainer, but also a wonderful person who is always in a good mood. Now at the heart of the conflict, Taras continues to give news to his colleagues. He has also left behind his wife and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
A child who, like many others, will have known nothing but war in Ukraine.
Take action alongside us
Despite the challenges, Mehad is continuing its work in Ukraine through rehabilitation programmes, medical training, psychological support and the distribution of essential medical equipment, with the aim of making a real difference to healthcare in times of crisis.
