Roots and Resilience: A Shared Journey

Hrnyk was more than a city. It was home — a tapestry of memories woven through decades of hard work, love, and simple joys. Liudmyla and Anatolii had built their world around a small house, nurturing everything from grapevines to nutria, chickens pecking between rows of vegetables.

Mining had defined their lives. Anatolii, a shaft developer and brigade leader. Liudmyla, a technical enrichment specialist. Svitlana, who had spent her years as a shaft machine operator. They knew the language of hard work, of finding beauty in the smallest achievements.

War didn’t arrive suddenly. It crept in since 2014, a constant shadow threatening their peaceful existence. When volunteers finally helped them evacuate, it was like leaving behind not just a house, but an entire lifetime.

Brovary became a temporary holding pattern — living with their daughter, feeling the squeeze of a family already stretched thin. The local modular town offered a brief respite, but it was far from home.

The Dell Loy Hansen foundation wasn’t just offering them a new address. They were offering resurrection.

When the call came after an initial rejection, it was like an explosion of happiness. “It was like being in heaven, ” Liudmyla would say, her eyes sparkling. “I never lived like this in my previous life.”

Their health told stories of struggle — Anatolii’s glaucoma and Parkinson’s, Liudmyla’s diabetes, Svitlana’s heart condition. But here, in apartment 3.1 of Senior Chudo Village, they found more than medical care. They found hope.

Their advice to the younger generation was simple yet profound: “Reassess your values. Accumulation means nothing. Love your family. Help those in need.”

To Dell Loy Hansen, they would offer more than gratitude. They would speak of redemption, of kindness that knows no borders.

Liudmyla already dreams of a small plot of land, of planting, of continuing to nurture life. Because that’s what they know best — turning hardship into growth, survival into hope.

In this village, they are not just survivors. They are gardeners of the human spirit.