Oberhausen.
In a guest article, Krystyna Selyanskaya explains why diapers from Oberhausen are encouraging in Zaporizhia – and how jackets help in the event of an alarm.
This is Maria. She is two years old and still doesn’t understand a lot, but she already knows very well what a cellar is and what the danger sounds like, because she spent half her life at the front in Zaporizhia. Maria has not had a father since she was born, her mother is a single parent. She was forced to interrupt her maternity leave and go back to work because of insufficient social security benefits. Police officers receive an average of 500 euros a month. After all, Maria’s mother is a senior investigator, her job is important for the country in times of war. That’s why she often stays late at work and sometimes has to work weekends. Then the girl is with her grandmother.
And this is three-year-old Anna, whose father is also a police officer, the sole breadwinner in the family. Anna no longer has a home. She regularly visits a support center with her mother. The girl drives there in the pram and comes back on foot because her mother is transporting relief supplies in the buggy. In Zaporizhia they ended up practically from scratch, the family’s life fitting into three suitcases when they urgently had to leave their apartment in Melitopol because of the Russian occupation of the city. Police officers are the first to be arrested, so the family had to leave immediately.
Diapers are precious in times of war
Neither Maria’s mother nor Anna’s parents can afford diapers from their salary. Because in times of war a pack costs 20 euros. But in the photos you can see Maria and Anna with several packages of “Premium Diapers”! Where are you from?
From Oberhausen, the sister city of Zaporizhia. This friendship began in 1985 with a youth exchange, which later became the “Multi”, one of the largest international encounters with young people from 15 countries.
At that time, Taras Chevchenko led the youth group from Zaporizhia. Today he coordinates the aid transports from “Oberhausen Hilft”. And Wolfgang Heitzer, who initiated the town twinning and founded the multinational, is the managing director of the association, which renovated orphanages in Zaporizhia even before the war. You can see the two in the middle and on the right of the picture. “This week we sent our thirteenth truck with relief supplies,” says Heitzer. “They tell us what they need. Some we can give, some not, but we do our best.”
Winter jackets for the air raid shelter
At the beginning of the war, the Ukrainians asked for bulletproof vests, uniforms and drones for the military, but the non-profit association cannot and must not send them. Winter jackets for children, but they are. With these jackets from Oberhausen, the children will not only go to kindergarten, school and the playground. When the air raid alarm sounds, the jackets keep them warm in the damp basements.
On the far left you can see Viktor Nesterenko, he is the chairman of a trade union for government employees and has been involved in the town partnership for ten years. Viktor remembers how on the third day of the war the Russian army stood near Zaporizhia and even children mixed Molotov cocktails. That’s when Viktor decided to use his network. Today he not only helps children like Maria and Anna. He organizes the transport of the donations from Oberhausen with the help of Ukrainian drivers and ensures that they reach the families directly. When he hands over gifts and diapers, people are surprised at how far these things come from, says Viktor: “And it moves Ukrainians to tears. They didn’t expect help, but it came.”
Three pallets of animal feed
Viktor also delivered some of the 2,400 shoeboxes that the Oberhausen residents filled with Christmas presents. “But when we brought the kids gifts from other kids, that was just great. The moral support, that lifeblood, is also very important. It shows us that evil didn’t win, that the battle between good and evil goes on,” says Viktor. “Last time, Oberhausen even sent us three pallets of animal feed.” He sent it to Huljajpole and Orikhiv, to the front where almost all houses were destroyed, where almost no people live anymore, but where many still live, explains Viktor, “who can’t defend themselves at all. Those are cats and dogs.”
“The Russians thought Ukraine would freeze in winter,” says Viktor. And just now there have actually been long power outages in Zaporizhia. The heating was also turned off. “And Oberhausen was there for the people. Just last time we delivered more than twenty diesel generators,” says Viktor. 130 tons of relief supplies were there in the first year of the war. Thanks to the warmth in the house, children like two-year-old Sofia can play on the floor, says Viktor and shows a photo. He has many photos of children in new jackets.
>> About the author
Krystyna Selyanskaya studied journalism and was the editor-in-chief of the morning magazine at the TV channel “Kiev Live”. When a Russian pilot fired a rocket into the yard of her family’s home in the early days of the war, the 34-year-old decided to flee with her daughter (11) and sister (18). Her 19-year-old brother fell in Mariupol. A Ukrainian friend who has lived in Essen for years offered her help.
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