My story

Hello!

My name is Olena, I am 38 years old. Here’s my family:

– Husband Alexei – 45 years old

– son Nikita – 9 years old

– daughter Vladislava 1.8 years old.

Our family is from Severodonetsk, Luhansk region. We became migrants for the second time. Initially, in 2014, we were forced to leave our home for 3 years. In 2017, we returned home, after losing our job we thought about our own business, searched for our niche for a long time and found it in the sewing direction.

We started with sewing tents, later switched to clothes, sewed on toll raw materials, that is, simply performed sewing services. Later we decided to create our own clothing line and sell clothes through our own sales channels.

Before the war, we sewed clothes for the whole family; family look was our chip because we could sell clothes for an individual family member and for the whole family together. We started with a rented room of 30 square meters.

At the beginning of 2021, our old dream came true – we bought our own production facility. During 2021 we repaired and improved it, did everything the way we wanted. I remember every light bulb, every door handle we bought… We made an energy-saving heating system, worked on installing solar panels. It is impossible to describe in one paragraph how much work, how many hopes and dreams we invested in 2021…

Here it is: your own business, your own premises, your own clothing line, a business you adore, everything you dreamed of has been achieved…

My morning on February 24, 2022 started as usual, I woke up at 5:00, meditated, then read and finished my morning ritual with morning jog. When you go outside at 6:00 –at morning, there are very few people on the street; no one prevents you from enjoying the morning air, sounds and smells. Nobody bothers you, I’m the queen of my morning and I own my day! However, when I went outside and ran along the sidewalks, something was wrong. My morning was filled with a bunch of people in cars driving somewhere in chaos, people were driving in all directions… For me it was very strange, I ran home and found my husband who had already taken a shower (which was very early for him) and he told me that the war had started…

Then everything went on like in a strange movie, we spent a whole week in a bomb shelter. It’s very difficult and scary with a small child. It’s February, cold, my daughter spends all day in winter shoes. On the sixth day in the evening, a shell hit our house, to say it’s scary is to say nothing. On the seventh day, we grabbed the children’s things and left the city.

For the next 2 months we were in a safe place. But mentally you are still at home, in your apartment, mentally you are still running on your favorite streets and going to your favorite job. News do not bring comforting forecasts. It was decided to relocate at least part of the equipment. This is a separate story, how we did it and what it cost us, but we were able to take the minimum to resume production.

During the third month – constant analysis of the situation, procrastination, doubts and fears to start over. We have moved to the city of Vyshhorod and are already planning to start our work here. As I wrote earlier – we took out a part of the equipment, namely:

-4 sewing machines

-overlocks

-loop and button machine

-plotter and software for creating patterns.

We need money to buy raw materials, to start production we need about 50,000 UAH. These funds will be enough for us to buy material in 3 colors to work during the summer and prepare for the autumn season. We have already rented an apartment, found a small space for production and are looking for funding to resume our business.

Looking at this in June 2022 I regret only that I paid little attention to children, that all funds were directed to business development, that I promised my son a vacation in 2014 and still haven’t fulfilled the promise, but the events of February 2022 – allowed us to significantly rethink our lives and priorities.

It’s hard for us, but I believe that my family can start all over again, starting from scratch. We are currently enjoying each other, spending a lot of time together and making plans for the future.

I believe in victory! I believe in the Lord Jesus! I believe in the universe!

We will win!

Glory to Ukraine!

Sincerely,

my family.