{"id":35152,"date":"2026-06-10T16:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T13:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/?p=35152"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T13:12:13","slug":"zalissya-a-place-of-shelter-care-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/zalissya-a-place-of-shelter-care-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Zalissya \u2014 A Place of Shelter, Care, and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are sincerely grateful to the Mennonite Center Foundation, as well as other organizations, churches, and missions that help support and maintain internally displaced people from the Donetsk region living at our suburban campsite in Zalissya, Rivne district. This project of mercy and service has been going on continuously since 2022.<\/p>\n

This year, the Community of the Good Shepherd Church in Rivne decided to travel with the Gospel to Zalissya every Saturday. For the brothers and sisters, this is a good experience to show love and empathy, and to serve people from eastern Ukraine on a practical level. By sharing their life stories and personal encounters with the Lord, they learn to witness to people who are going through tough times, encouraging them and pointing to the One Who is always there and Who hears their pain and cries. For the displaced people themselves, it is a good opportunity to meet, make friends, share their worries, as well as get support and encouragement.<\/p>\n

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Today, 55 people live in Zalissya. They are mostly elderly widows, frail senior citizens, people with disabilities, and women with children. Many have left their homes in the occupied territories or in areas of constant shelling. Their homes are destroyed or in danger, and small pensions and social benefits do not allow them to rent housing in safe regions of Ukraine on their own.<\/p>\n

Even in 2025\u20132026, people continue to come to Zalissya, fleeing war, destruction, and constant fear.<\/p>\n

One of the new residents is 78-year-old Lyubov Ivanovna, who was brought to Zalissya in March of this year from the city of Druzhkivka, Donetsk region. Together with another elderly woman, she arrived exhausted, scared, and almost helpless. Due to constant stress and proximity to the front, the woman began to lose her memory and sense of orientation.<\/p>\n

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Her life story spans several generations and an entire era. Born in the Lviv region into a large miner’s family, she took on the responsibility of taking care of her family from a young age after her father was seriously injured. Later, life brought her to Voronezh, where she graduated as a chef-technologist, started a family, and worked in management positions in the catering industry. After the family tragedy, she raised her daughter alone and started a new life in the Donetsk region, in Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka. The war got her already alone: her daughter and her family left for Siberia, and all her relatives remained in Russia. Today, Lyubov Ivanovna is in particular need of care, security, and warmth.<\/p>\n

Another resident of Zalissya is 27-year-old Anastasia from Slavyansk. She survived two waves of war \u2014 back in 2014, when she was a schoolgirl, and during the full-scale invasion in 2022. Together with her three young sons, Anastasia stayed at home for a long time, hoping that the danger would pass. But after a shell hit a neighboring house, the family realized that they had to flee.<\/p>\n

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Today, she lives with her children in Zalissya, where, for the first time in a long period, she can sleep in silence without explosions and air-raid alarms. Her greatest dream is peace and being able to return home. Despite the uncertainty of the future, Anastasia is grateful to the people who are helping displaced people get through the most difficult times.<\/p>\n

For many residents of Zalissya, this place has become not only a temporary home but also a place of recovery, support, and hope. We thank everyone who continues to pray, give, and serve people who have lost almost everything due to the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are sincerely grateful to the Mennonite Center Foundation, as well as other organizations, churches, and missions that help support and maintain internally displaced people…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,100],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35152\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=35152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35152\/revisions\/"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35153,"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35152\/revisions\/35153\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35124\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=35152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=35152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetopeople.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=35152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}