Hope for Kherson Region!

My name is Monika and before the war I was a tourist guide in the Chernobyl zone in Ukraine and I took care of the people who still live in this area. Recently, on the "Z Nesnáze" portal, I finished a fundraiser to help these people who were affected by the war. Thanks to your help, everything went well, and grandmothers and grandfathers in the Chernobyl zone have food supplies for the whole winter. That's why I wanted to start by thanking you for all these people and telling you that they are looking forward to seeing you after the war, they will be happy to host you in their homes and thank you personally :)

I had a little money left and that's why I went with help to the Kherson region, which was de-occupied only on November 11. That is, 11 days before I went there. I already have experience with the supply of areas after de-occupation from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine. But I couldn't imagine what was waiting for me here. While waiting at the first military checkpoint in the area, we were interrupted by an explosion so strong that the whole car shook. We instinctively looked around to see where it had gone. Nothing. I stood in line for about 20 minutes and the explosions repeated several times. As we stood by the soldiers checking us out, the explosion rang out again. It didn't move the soldier one bit. It's scary how people get used to it. So I asked what it was. The soldier informed us that we can be calm, that it is the Ukrainian army that is carrying out demining. He dismissed us and we continued on.

I chose a village, beyond the city of Kherson, because it was clear to me that all humanitarian aid goes only to the city of Kherson, the villages around are waiting for supplies and will be waiting for a long time.

At the next checkpoints, we asked where we should continue, we didn't know if we would reach the village we had chosen, we were without signal and internet, so without navigation, relying on the help of the army. About 30 km from the village, she warned us that there were no bridges along the way and that she had no idea how far they had progressed in building alternative routes, that we should try and see. On the way, we passed one bridge, which had already been replaced by a pontoon, however, another bridge was waiting for us about 15 km before the destination, but there was only a hole in the road. Around the asphalt, the tracks were ridden to one side, but what now, did the local people ride them, or is it a memory of the Russian army with possible mines? We didn't know, there was no one to ask in these places, nor were the army checkpoints built yet. That's why we turned around, saying that we will go back and stop at the first village we meet along the way. So we reached one of the villages, they asked if they needed help. Of course. We were the first to ever get lost there with help. We reached the center of the village, where we began to unload the food we had brought on the street for people to take. There were explosions again, sometimes they were heard from a greater distance, sometimes as if they were right next to us. The sound of a "whistle", followed by an explosion, decided us. So I asked if it was the Ukrainian army. We were not pleased with the answer, it was about the Russian army. We were 3 km from the Dnieper River, beyond which the Russian army had moved. We are on the battlefield, in the front line, under fire. We chose probably the only village that came under fire that day. That is, it was not an attack directly on the village, but an attack on the positions of the Ukrainian army that were nearby, in the fields and forests. Closer explosions were impacts on Russian positions, more distant explosions on Ukrainian positions. And we found ourselves among them. I quickly unloaded the food and left. On the way back, we noticed the village, which before the war could have had around 2 thousand people, was quite large. But today there was not a single undamaged house standing in this village, everything was destroyed, completely. The remains of rockets, or rockets that had failed and failed to explode, were lying everywhere along the roads.

Russian peace, we thought...

Since the day before I had given an offer of help to the groups of the Kherson region, I received a call from a woman who lives in this very destroyed village. So the next day, with additional help, we went to this very destroyed village. To our horror, we discovered that there are 100 people living in the cellars here. They have nothing, not a roof over their heads, not electricity, not water, not the strength to leave and live elsewhere. They said that they would rebuild everything, that they would somehow survive the winter, that they just needed help, that they needed the world to know that the village did not die, that they lived in it and were waiting for someone to notice them and help them. They only hope that someone will give them a helping hand. People told us that it was not just their village, but that there was another in the area that had met the same fate, that had also experienced the Russian peace, which brought only devastation and nothing good. I have to and want to do something to provide these people with at least the basic necessities for survival. I decided to go to the area again, in January and February, regardless of the risk of constant shelling by the Russian army, regardless of the fact that dozens of people die here every day as a result of attacks.

So this fundraiser is for the needs of this and one more village that is equally destroyed. In total, there are 200 people who live in these villages, if you can call it life. These people, they don't need food, these people need basic help in this form:

• 10 gasoline generators
• 100 pieces of kerosene lamps
• 400 liters of kerosene - according to calculations, it should be enough for at least 2 months, kerosene is not available in Ukraine
• Replacement wicks for kerosene lamps
• 100 pieces of sleeping bags + additional blankets
• 100 pieces of flashlights + 2,000 pieces of batteries for them
• 100 pieces heat-proof mat

I was the first humanitarian aid in the Chernobyl area, after the withdrawal of Russian troops. And I was also the first humanitarian aid in the Kherson region. Everyone forgot that people live outside the city of Kherson. That even in completely destroyed villages, people remain and want to live a normal life as soon as possible.

This humanitarian action will cost 14 000 € – fuel, tolls on highways, purchase of the above-mentioned necessities. The area was occupied for more than 7 months. Since I am not a non-profit organization, I do not have the possibility of wider financial support.

I am "just" a Czech woman trying to keep a few people alive. So I would like to ask you for support for these people living in cellars and garages in the Kherson region. We let them know that someone cares about them, that someone will take care of them through the winter. That their plea for help, with which they turned to me, would bring them help. I can't do it alone. Any financial support will help me organize this humanitarian event. We are running out of time, and I would like to bring the help already at the beginning of January. Winter is coming and it will be extremely cruel for these people. Thank you all very much.