The full-scale war forces many Ukrainians to seek refuge repeatedly, adapt to difficult conditions, and rebuild their lives from scratch.
Popular Ukrainian bloggers from the YouTube channel “Proste sim’ya” shared a snapshot of a new stage in their lives: they are forced to become internally displaced persons for the second time and are renovating a neglected house. Read more about their story in Focus’s article.
Upon arriving at their temporary accommodation, the family faced a multitude of challenges: from cluttered rooms and broken windowpanes to nearby Russian shell explosions and unpleasant conflicts with strangers.
Temporary Housing
The dwelling where the family plans to temporarily reside is not in the best condition. In addition to the lack of gas and problems with chimneys, the building has sustained damage from shelling.
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“There were shellings, the slate got a little damaged… We arrived in the morning – it landed 500-600 meters away. The slate flew off, two pieces of slate were torn off the house, the garage gate was blown open. Thank God we were at our parents’ place, I had a feeling we needed to leave,” shares the blogger.
Despite the risks and damaged windows in the workshop, the family remains optimistic and tries to put the house in order: they are clearing the yard of overgrowth, filling cracks in the walls, painting the floor, and installing a stove heating system.
Scandal Over “Someone Else’s Belongings”
However, the biggest challenge during the cleanup was not so much the junk as an unexpected visit from a man who had been bringing his belongings to this house for several years.
Since the house belongs to the bloggers’ second cousin, she gave the family permission to break the locks and throw out the clutter to prepare the premises for living more quickly. However, an unknown man, upon arriving at the yard, caused a conflict and refused to take his property.
Internally Displaced Persons are Furnishing Their Home Photo: YouTube
“He is not the owner. For five years, he brought junk and all this clutter here. When he arrived, he started complaining that we broke the locks, that we did it inhumanely. We explained to him that we have very little time. We offered him money for these locks – he took half, and refused the other half,” says the video’s author.
Another “Adventure”
Despite the unpleasant incident, the family tries to approach all misfortunes with humor and as another “adventure.”
In parallel with setting up the house, the bloggers continue to work. The head of the family fulfills orders for welding metal arches and also helps local residents clean up the aftermath of fires caused by shelling.
There are also domestic experiments in the garden: the family tried to harvest the first crop of Chinese yellow watermelons, the seeds of which were given to them by friends. Homegrown berries became a small joy amidst the harsh rural weekdays.
More Interesting Stories
We remind you that Focus previously wrote that:
- Blogger Ksenia put up for sale a house in Spain that all buyers had previously refused – this dwelling has no utilities at all: no electricity, no water, no heating, and instead of windows and doors, there are empty openings.
- A couple from the Kyiv region proved that even a semi-destroyed rural house can be a profitable investment. After several years of renovation, they transformed the house beyond recognition – now even the village elders do not recognize it.
Ukrainians Olena and Dmytro, who lived in Poland before the full-scale war, took a risky step of their own – they purchased an old house in France near the ocean coast. Recently, the couple discovered interesting details about the life of the previous owner of this house.