Your Care Means the World to Her On the exact day World War II ended is when Larisa was born. Her parents survived by evacuating to a safer area away from the invading Nazis. But Larisa’s mother told her stories of loved ones who perished after remaining in the western Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia—the city where her father and uncle would visit after the war to see the mass grave site where many family members were buried. Still, the struggle for the Jewish people wasn’t over. Larisa grew up living under Soviet rule and was forced to keep her Jewish faith hidden. “We had to keep our traditions to ourselves,” Larisa remembers. “The only celebrations we could have, were secret ones at home.” And she recalls having trouble being accepted into university to study medicine, simply because she was Jewish. Today, Larisa’s has reached her elderly years, and her health is deteriorating. With no relatives to take care of her, it would be normal for her to feel all alone. But, even during a difficult time in life, she has found faith and joy through the support of the Jewish community and IFCJ Canada, especially now that there is still an ongoing war in Ukraine and now that it is the bitter winter. “There are no relatives left to take me in, no place for me to go,” she says simply. “Ukraine is my home, and I am going to stay here,” she says about the current war. But staying in her hometown has meant enduring relentless air-raid sirens, food shortages, and an overall sense of fear and uncertainty. “I spend 50 percent of my pension on medicine,” she says. “The rest would never be enough to cover the rest of my needs. I am very grateful to [IFCJ Canada] for enabling me to make ends meet with a bank card and winter relief to pay the heating bill.” Most of all, care from the Jewish community and IFCJ Canada show her that she is not alone. “It’s hard to survive on your own, both physically and spiritually,” Larisa says, “It means the world that people support us this way.” Your donation today will help provide emergency essentials to desperate elderly like Larisa. |
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