Sharkova Family in Ukraine

Hello,

My name is Liza. I have never thought that I would have to write something like this to provide help to my family, but with the current situation my hands are so tight. My family and I are from Ukraine. I didn’t visit my family in 2 and a half years and finally I was able to come visit them on February 7th. I was very happy to spend 17 days with the people who mean the world to me. On February 24th, I woke up from a loud explosion. That’s the day when all military operations started. I was supposed to leave Ukraine and get back to my daily life on February 26th, but I didn’t have enough time to leave. My family and I live in Melitopol. The city is located 2 hours away from Russian border and Crimea. My city was one of the first ones that was invaded by Russian troops. I pray for all people in Ukraine every single day and hope that all this horror can be over soon. My city raised the white flag on the third day, and in this way, thousands and thousands and thousands lives were saved. Currently my city is under Russian control. Most of the people lost their jobs, elderly don’t get paid their retirement plans, and no one knows when everything will go back to normal. It is really scary.

Some of you might know, some of you don’t, but my younger brother is a swimmer and has a physical disability since he was born. He swims for Invasport-Zaporozhie Regional Center for disabled athletes, where he has shown great results. On February 17th, he left for a training camp in Turkey, Istanbul, to prepare for the nationals, and the All-Ukrainian tournament “Believe in Yourself” with the team and coaching staff. He was supposed to return on March 1st, but military actions in Ukraine started on February 24th, and seven athletes with disabilities and three coaches cannot come back home until it’s safe enough. The mayor of Istanbul and people there have been helping them with food and housing for almost 3 weeks, but now they have to look for a new place to live and find money to buy daily needs and food. It’s terrifying not knowing where to get money for living and a house to live in a foreign country.

The whole team and my brother need help, and this campaign is the least I can do for them and my family.

Thank you so much to everyone from the bottom of my heart ❤️