Uncle Seryozha. Life from scratch

Our today’s story is about a person who is in an intensive therapy ward of Kyiv Military Hospital now. This story is about a volunteer who has to start his life from scratch.

The war divides people’s lives into “before” and “after”.

In his life before the war, he was known as a Master who made unique church bells which now toll in the Church of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem.

He is just “uncle Seryozha” for volunteers and for servicemen on the front line.

They know him as a volunteer driver of a green van who never refused to help and could roam military roads for weeks.

His van was the only thing he was able to take with him from Donetsk. There was an article about uncle Seryozha a year ago. He already suffered from a heartache but his only thoughts were about trips to the front.

"How are you going to live?”

“We must finish the war, this is the only thing I am thinking about now. We should oust these bastards from Ukraine.

Do you remember how church bells toll? The sound is so deep and rhythmical, it goes deep into your soul. We do not hear this sound now. We hear only saws of those who are cutting our plants into scrap metal and takes them away, we hear metal detectors of those looking for bronze. We do not hear bells any more. They are hidden. Who will make them after the war?”

He was shell shocked several times at war and he partially lost hearing.

The war took practically everything he had away from him, he used to be a smith and had his own workshop with unique equipment. “DPR” militants cut them for scrap metal, they looted his house as well...

However, when Seroyzha tells you about bells (he learnt to make them himself), you can see that he is waiting for the moment when he will come back to doing the things he loves the most.

One can see his home from the village of Pisky. Every time uncle Seryozha brings essentials to the servicemen in the village, he looks at the house and thinks if he will ever return there.

From the very beginning of the Maidan, uncle Seryozha supported it and tried to explain to his friends and workers why people in Kyiv gathered and that they struggled for better life for all Ukrainians.

It was a real feat in Donetsk. Then, when the separatist “referendum” took place and administrative buildings got seized by militants, he had a feeling that it was a nightmare which would finish soon.

However, on June 2, he got a telephone call and an acquaintance warned him that someone had reported to “DPR security service” about him and he would be arrested. He had to leave the city that night taking only two bags with him.

He settled down in Kyiv vicinity and wanted to join the army but he was refused due to his age (he was 63 at that time).

"I got telephone calls from volunteers who were trying to take people away from the ATO zone. I wanted to join the army as soon as we arrived in Kyiv, but I was too old for that and they refused.

Then, my wife saw an advert on the internet saying that volunteers needed a driver. This is how it all started.

If I stay in the capital for several days running, I cannot seat still. I must go back. I am nervous as boys are waiting for me there..."

He started going to the ATO zone as an intelligencer as he knew the locality really well. Once, he was even detained in Donetsk and questioned for several days, but they failed to find evidence against him and he was set free.

We met uncle Seryozha in the autumn of 2014, during a trip to the ATO zone. He went to the front to bring humanitarian aid to orphanages situated on the front line.  I remember tears in the eyes of this big and strong man when he was taking children from areas which were being shelled. I remember how calm he was under “Grads” or mortars fire.

He helped to take civilians out from Debaltseve, Vodyane, Myronivske which were shelled incessantly at that time.

He did not sleep for days, ate at petrol stations and was stressed all the time... This influenced his health of course.

Uncle Seryozha fell ill. He had a heart attack.

Now, his heart works only 60 % and to restore his force he has to change the rhythm of his life. He must not drive. He must find time for rehabilitation. 

This is where the problem lies.

Volunteers as uncle Seryozha have no legal status. None at all. He has only his big heart which got completely worn out on ATO roads.

Today, it is very difficult to prove the connection between his current heart condition and she shell shock he underwent on the front line. 

To be honest, it is practically impossible to prove that these two facts are connected.

Volunteers risk their lives when they go to the front line, however, they are not protected by any legal mechanisms. I hope, it will be possible to solve such problems in the future.

Right now uncle Seryozha needs our help.

Iryne Soloshenko for the UP.

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