For more than 20 years, the NGO Family for People with Disabilities has been operating in Kyiv. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the organization has been providing social and psychological support to those affected by the war as part of the project “Unite and Help in Time of War,” implemented by the League of the Strong, thanks to a grant from the European Disability Forum and the Christian Blind Mission.
Among those receiving such assistance is 15-year-old Yehor Shapovalov and his family. At his young age, the child was forced to leave his home twice because of the war. For the first time in 2014, the boy’s family left Luhansk for Sievierodonetsk. And with the beginning of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Yehor’s new and much more difficult trials began.
“In the morning, my husband and I quickly gathered everything we could find. We woke up the child, took the dog, and I left the city with the child. We were driving, not knowing what was ahead. My husband stayed behind,” – recalls the boy’s mother, Tetiana Shapovalova.
They lived in Zakarpattia, in Vinnytsia… Only six months later, the family reunited in Kyiv. Yehor met his father.
“During our forced moves, I realized how keenly Yehor felt everything, but he could not put his feelings into words. How much he missed his father, who was not with us at the time. He could not understand where his home and all the things he knew were,” – says Tetiana Shapovalova.
After moving to Kyiv, the family started looking for a group for Yehor. A place where he could communicate with his peers. It was difficult because many organizations work with preschool children. The boy was already 14 years old at the time. In addition, the problem of getting around the city was acute in the capital. It was impossible to find all the necessary classes and services in one place. He had to travel to different districts. It was very exhausting for Yegor.
Family friends recommended that he contact the NGO “Family for People with Disabilities”. Yehor started going there for day care. Tetiana started working as a physical rehabilitation therapist.
“In this space, we felt care, support, and hope. Yehor made friends with whom he developed warm relationships. I got a job that I like. I am a physiotherapist, I work here with children with disabilities,” – says the boy’s mother.
The center has a regimen, various classes and social rehabilitation. Thanks to one of the organization’s projects, the family was helped to equip a sports corner for Yegor in his room. Now he has the opportunity to exercise, which is extremely important for his health. The NGO “Family for People with Disabilities” also provides the sponsored family with hygiene and food kits, bedding, clothes, stationery, etc.
On the advice of a speech therapist from the Family for People with Disabilities NGO, who had been working with Yehor, the family turned to the Nadiia special school. Now the boy is studying there. But he also attends classes at “Rodyna” – he has friends and favorite teachers there.
Soon it will be a year since Yegor came to Rodyna.
“We celebrate all the holidays together with the Rodyna Family for Persons with Disabilities NGO. The children receive wonderful gifts. Thanks to this, we are all filled with pleasant feelings of joy and gratitude,” – says the boy’s mother.
It should be noted that the team of the NGO “Family for Persons with Disabilities” also founded a social service center with an interdisciplinary team that includes a special educator, speech therapist, physical rehabilitators, psychologist, art therapist, educator and social workers. Rodina has also opened a day care and vocational training center for young people with disabilities called “A Cup of Kindness.”