Help Sergey and Natalia Feed Ukrainian Refugees

October 2022

Update from Natalia:

My mother, Lidia Lomakina, lived in the village of Gusarovka, Balakleysky district, Kharkov region. When the war began, their village was constantly bombed. Mom's house was left without a roof and windows. Only the walls survived. She herself was at that time in the cellar and lived there for more than a month since the village was occupied by Russian soldiers. Without light, without water, without communication, she survived on raw potatoes and canned food that was in the cellar. For more than a month, we didn’t know if she was alive or not until Gusarovka was liberated and the volunteers took her out.

So she came to us in Spain. At first, she was placed in a hostel from the Red Cross, but since she needed medical care, we took her to us. We continuously had from 8 to 14 refugees from Ukraine living in our two-room apartment all the time, whom we later helped to resettle and took new ones whenever possible. And now, in October, when we already had only our family left (me, my son is 18 years old, my mother is 75 years old, and two dogs from the shelter), we received a notification that we were obliged to move out of the apartment because too many people lived in our apartment for the last six months. The landlady doesn’t like it. Now we are looking for new housing even cheaper.

During the time of our housing dozens of refugees, and multiple families fleeing Ukraine, we have accumulated debts for electricity and water bills and credit cards. And although I work two jobs, this is only enough for us for rent, our son’s studies, and food. But it is not enough to pay all the bills. We used our own credit cards to buy tickets for the refugee families just to get them out of Ukraine, but most are unable to repay us, and we have no money either. And at the worst possible moment, our car broke down. Mom has serious health problems because when she was living in the cellar, her dentures broke - so for several months, she has been eating only mashed potatoes. Because of this, her stomach problems began. We took her to the dentist, but this is an unbearable amount of money for us at the moment since we spent all our small cash reserves on helping refugees.

We tried so hard for everyone to help in every way we could, but now we find ourselves in a situation where we, ourselves, need help. Mom really wants to return to Ukraine, but for health reasons and considering that her house cannot be restored, I hope that she will receive medical assistance here in Spain, and when the winter ends, she will be able to leave to restore our home.

We will be incredibly grateful for any help. All my life, I helped orphanages in Ukraine, I was a member of a stray dog rescue group in Spain, a volunteer for refugees from Ukraine, and now I find myself in a situation where it’s very embarrassing to ask, but we may end up being homeless on the street with mom, son, and dogs.

The first photo above is of my family. On the second, I'm with my dogs. On the third, when my mother lived in a cellar in Ukraine. In the last photo, my corner for relaxation was when I gave all the sleeping places to women and children of refugees. Below are photos of the families we helped earlier this year.

Thank you all for your continued kindness and generosity!

About Sergey & Natalia (from Spring 2022):

Sergey and Natalia Shablievsky (photo on the top right) live with their son in a 2-room apartment near Malaga, Spain. They are former Ukrainian refugees, living as residents in Spain. After the Russians attacked and invaded Ukraine three weeks ago, refugees had no place to go. Sergey and Natalia opened up their one-bedroom apartment to many of them. They took in several families, some with children, and some with special needs. Sergey had to temporarily take leave from his job in order to volunteer at the local Red Cross and help the influx of refugees. He is trying to find temporary housing for them and ensure that no one goes hungry.

Currently, they are housing 10 adults and 5 children in their 2-room apartment. Two of the families were away from Ukraine at the moment when the war started and could not return home. Their children were in Ukraine with their grandmothers, sheltering in basements because of constant shelling. Recently they were able to rescue one child across the border and out of Ukraine. The rest of the refugees escaped under heavy fire. It took many days just to get to a place where they were welcomed. Travel took nearly a week in buses and trains.

Sergey has found temporary housing for 4 families, but within the next few days, they are expecting 26 more people, mostly women with their children. They are in dire need of money to feed everyone, to provide medicine and supplies, for gas to drive individuals to interviews with different organizations, and – if temporary housing is found – travel expenses to take them there. Sergey and Natalia have fully depleted their modest savings and need our help.

Please donate anything you can. Every little bit counts.