No Longer Living in Fear
“‘A shell hit our house. Our neighbours died from the explosion.’ That was the last day the family spent in their home…”
Natalia and her mother, Zoya, lived in the Donetsk region of Ukraine until the 2014 war brought gunfire, explosions, and violence into their neighbourhood. Natalia’s son, Ivan, was only two years old.
“Things didn’t seem very dangerous at the beginning,” says Natalia. “However, then a shell hit our house. Our neighbours died from the explosion.” That was the last day the family spent in their home.
The family abruptly left and spent some time in a neighbouring region away from the immediate fighting. Natalia struggled to find work. For a year, the family moved around following Natalia’s employment at a few different companies while her mother looked after Ivan.
Once they realized how difficult it was to survive in Ukraine, they decided to relocate to Israel on a Fellowship Freedom Flight. “We want to find peace, harmony, and happiness in the land of our ancestors,” says Natalia. “We want to reconnect with our family history.”
Natalia says she will miss the country she was born in, but she feels a pull toward the homeland of her ancestors. She remembers following the Jewish traditions during her childhood, and she wants to start observing her faith again in the Holy Land, especially because she wants to teach her son about their Jewish ancestry.
Not only does Natalia hope to reconnect with her Judaism, she also hopes for better career opportunities. She would like to work in the medical field, so she plans to enroll at a university and take classes to earn a science degree.
After making aliyah with The Fellowship, the family’s future looks very bright. And they know they are not alone in a new country. The family’s reliance on your support will continue as they settle in the Holy Land. Natalia feels blessed to know that she can always call a Fellowship staff member with any questions she has about her new life in Israel.
Help more families like Natalia’s escape war and poverty in eastern Ukraine today. You can be the hope so many Ukrainian Jews pray for every night.
