“For the first time, I felt that I could go on living.” The story of Nadiia and her move at the age of 72
“For the first time, I felt that I could go on living.”
She came to the humanitarian center in the early days of winter. Nadiia entered quietly and stopped at the threshold. “I don't need anything,” she said to the specialist from the Multidisciplinary Mobile Team who approached her first.
Nadiia is 72 years old. She has lived in Kharkiv her entire life. She knew every street, every market, and every bus route by heart. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, located just 30 kilometers from the Russian border, has been under constant shelling since the first weeks of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Every night there were air raid sirens. Every week there were strikes on residential buildings.
“I got used to not turning on the lights so that nothing could be seen through the curtains. I got used to sleeping fully clothed. I learned a lot,” she says, and in this “learned” there is not pride, but exhaustion.
A strange city
In December 2025, Nadiia finally decided to leave. She arrived in Odesa with a single suitcase. A strange apartment, power cuts, sometimes lasting eight to ten hours.
MMT Odesa often works in humanitarian centers, shelters, and headquarters. The team includes a psychologist, a social worker, and a lawyer — people who know how to listen and help. We met Nadiia at a humanitarian center, where she came without a specific goal. An MMT specialist approached her and started a conversation — not with a questionnaire, but with the question, “How are you?” Nadiia replied that she was fine. But then she opened up.
It turned out that her anxiety level was very high. Her heart raced with every loud noise. High levels of anxiety were associated with both her experiences in the combat zone and the new reality of living under constant threat of shelling, difficulties in accessing services due to frequent power, water, and heat outages, and insufficient awareness of the social and material services available to IDPs.
Comprehensive assistance from MMT
MMT developed an individual support plan for Nadiia. A lawyer explained step by step what IDP status is and how to obtain it. A social worker accompanied her to the local authorities. Psychological counseling was provided.
“No one has ever asked me questions or listened to me so attentively,” says Nadiia. “Not even my family. They call me and just say, ‘Hang in there.’ But here, they sat and listened. That's different. I felt real support.”.
Life goes on
Завдяки комплексній роботі ММК, проведеній з грудня 2025 року, Надія отримала всю необхідну підтримку і досягла бажаних результатів. Сьогодні Надія знає, де в кварталі є генератор, якщо зникне світло, знає, куди звернутися, якщо буде потреба і, навіть, має нову подругу, з якою познайомилися в маленькому магазинчику біля дому.
This story shows how the coordinated work of the mobile team helps to support elderly people who have been forced to leave their homes.
Specialists provide not only psychological assistance but also support in everyday matters — especially in the context of the energy crisis, frequent power outages, and limited access to basic services.
The project “Response Consortium: Providing Multi-Sectoral Humanitarian Assistance to the Conflict-Affected Population in Ukraine (2023–2026)” is implemented with the support of the American people through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Acted Ukraine, World Vision Ukraine in cooperation with the ICF “Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health”
