21/07/2023
Valentyna, 64, Ukrainian
Valentyna's sitting on a donated sofa in a derelict four room house. It's on the edge of a small village not far from Odessa. She's been living here with ten other family members for about six months.
There's no heating or running water inside, the windows are broken, and they've been given clothes and bedding by neighbours.
She's here because her childhood home in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine, was bombed last year, and she lost everything. Fortunately she was in a shelter when her house was hit.
"Not even a needle and thread could be rescued," she says.
Since then she's been homeless, travelling with her son, her daughter-in-law, and her 8 grandchildren. They've been moving west across Ukraine in search of somewhere safer to live.
But even their current poor accommodation won't last much longer - she's just been told they must move out.
"I can't sleep worrying about where we're going to live" she says. "I just want to feel calm."
Her home might have been destroyed but her connection to the area she lived in her whole life is unbroken. She's desperate to return to Lysychansk.
"When the war is over I want to to back to the place I grew up in," she says resolutely.
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Valentyna was dealing with an overwhelming number of issues when I met her, mainly due to the lack of stable accommodation, but I was struck by her incredible dignity and determination in the face of her traumas.
The pull of going back to Lysychansk was very strong for her. Home has never been a location for me, but I wonder if I was forced to move because of war if I'd feel differently. I suspect I might.
Do you feel home is a specific place? A building? A location? Or even region?
