Visual Problems do not Abolish Conscience

Visual Problems do not Abolish Conscience
20 Липня 2022
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Just like in 1941, war came to Kharkiv without a warning on February 24, 2022. Everyone has their own personal memories, impressions, and feelings. And I also still remember the story of Maryna, a nearly blind woman from Kharkiv (her name changed at her request). Her blind son had been living on the north-eastern outskirts of Kharkiv, in Saltivka, which was caught in the epicenter of the Russian artillery shelling since the first days of the war.

“Mama, volunteers are taking us from here, don’t worry, but we can’t take Tishka and Ricky (the cats – ed.) with us. Our neighbor will have the keys to our apartment, and if you have a chance, please take care of them, and we have left food for them with the neighbor, too.”

That is the talk Maryna had with her son on the 28th of February 2022, when Saltivka was under fierce artillery shelling.

“My son has left, and two cats are left, and how can I take them from the suburbs of Kharkiv? How could I get there under flying shells and “Hrad” rockets (an MLRS system – ed.)?” Maryna could not get rid of such thoughts out of her head.

All her attempts to call any taxi service were unsuccessful: they either did not respond, or did not take orders to Saltivka as the destination.

“Volodia, what can we do, I’ll take the underground train to the “Heroes of Labour” station and then get to Max’s house, because I can’t leave the cats there alone!” Maryna talked to her husband.

“My colleague Roman, with his family, is going in that direction, so maybe he’ll give you a lift – I’ll ask him,” responded her husband.

Roman was not able to drive the woman right to the building, but Maryna was happy that at least somebody  had the nerve to go to the area of shelling.

And here she is, at the apartment’s door, behind which are Tishka and Ricky, their furry friends, the favorite pets of Aliona and Maksym, Maryna’s children.

‘Dmytrivna’, their neighbour, while passing the keys to Maryna, told her that virtually everyone had left their block of the apartments, but she and her husband remained, because her husband could hardly speak and walk after a stroke, and that on another floor a 37-year-old Yevhen with his seriously-ill mother and his grandmother were staying. She also said the elevator wasn’t operating, and there were electricity cutoffs, but her husband and she couldn’t go anywhere.

As soon as the neighbor left and the door closed, an explosion burst outside the window. Maryna’s heart sank, and spiky snowflakes ran from the tops of her fingertips. Then three more explosions. Marina sat down in an armchair, and then suddenly the refrigerator switched off and the light went out. In the silence that followed, she could only hear someone running down the stairs and a car alarm wailing at a distance.

“What should I do next and how can I take the cats away?” Maryna was thinking, but her thoughts were interrupted with another powerful blast, so that the armchair started shaking. Maryna drew up her legs.

How can I find Tishka and Ricky in the dark? They are so haughty and also very scared, so catching them in the apartment is not an easy task. Time was passing quickly. The night was spent like in a strange amnesiac dream. Periodically, explosions would sound closer or farther, single or several at a time.

In the morning, Maryna’s husband phoned and said that he had arranged with some volunteers who were evacuating people from that district and they would come for Maryna, yet they couldn’t wait long.

Then a young man called the door: “Let’s go quickly while it’s a bit quiet!”

“And could you help me catch my cats?” Maryna felt confused. The volunteer said they were in a hurry then as many people were waiting for them to go away, so he left but gave his phone number to her.

Maryna was alone again. She heard her phone make a tinkle sound informing on the discharged battery. “How can I get out of here?” was her obsessive question. Like before, she couldn’t’ reach any taxi service.

“7% of battery charge left,” notified her phone through Google voice synthesizer. Maryna was caught in despair.

Tishka was found under the sofa, and while she was getting him out of there and trying to put him into a bag that served the function of a pet carrier cage, Tishka was scratching and trying to bite her. Having left a hole in the bag to let the cat breathe normally, Maryna began searching for Ricky, but he wouldn’t make a sound.

She found him on the top shelf of the computer desk. The cat was trembling and quietly whining. “Now, now, little cats, I know you aren’t good in that bag, but we need it,’ the woman was calming them down. She was just going to put the cat into the bag, but at that moment Tishka suddenly jumped out and, like a lightning, got under the sofa again. “How can I save you?” she kept thinking.

Her phone discharged completely and switched off. “What’s next..?” her heart was aching of despair. “I can’t help myself, but who can come to help me?” The frightened animals didn’t want to come closer, and she couldn’t attract them with “yummies”.

Maryna was sitting on the kitchen couch, covering her knees with her arms. It was cold, and the heating was off. “I should try to start my phone,” a thought passed in her head. “But what’s next?”

“The phone is loaded, 03% battery charge left,” notified the phone. An SMS signal – a text message – jingled. “They called you…”, but the message was interrupted with the voice call: “It is me, Oleg, and is that you? My phone battery is getting low!”

“Maryna, don’t say anything! Right now Ivan is coming to you from Valentyna (Valentyna Butenko, Head of “The Right to Choose» NGO – ed.). He’ll be with a colleague, don’t worry, all will be…,”she head her husband’s voice from the phone speaker, but the phone switched off again. The woman’s heart was bumping, but a hope filled up the room with joy and it got like lighter in the kitchen.

“I’m Svitlana, and this is Ivan. We are volunteers from “The Right to Choose.” We were bringing food sets to Saltivka, when they informed us that we need to take you from here. Let’s hurry up! Where are your naughty pets?” Friendly, smiling, and calm, she told Ivan: “Hold Ricky, and I’ll take the other one, and we’ll be moving!” she was giving instructions.

“Be careful, he can scratch, he doesn’t have an easy-going nature, and he’s also very scared,” Maryna warned them while she was picking up her things.

A few skillful movements, and the cats are sitting in the bag, only a clawed paw sharply hit the hand closing the zipper. “I’m sorry, “tigers”, but today you’ll have to wait a little!” smiled Svitlana.

Maryna couldn’t hold her emotions when her car was driving out onto the avenue that was no longer busy as a week ago: “I can’t believe I’m sitting here with you in the car! I can’t even imagine how I could thank you! You are such wonderful people! How is it you are not scared!”

“Valentyna Butenko is now preparing the lists for already the third train car to evacuate blind people to Europe. We are finding ways to bring people from various “hot districts” to the railway station, and we’re taking food sets to the lonely and the elderly who can’t go away,” responded Svitlana. “I can’t imagine how you, almost blind, could go to Saltivka under such tight shelling, when even we can hardly get there.”

“I couldn’t do differently! Bad vision does not mean bad conscience! I can’t leave a helpless being in trouble,” said Maryna when they were getting out of the car.

Volodymyr, having met Maryna, invited the volunteers to his home and offered them coffee.

“Thank you, but we have a few more tasks today, so we can’t afford to relax!” smiled Svitlana leaving. “Most important that Maryna and your “tigers” are safe!”

This story, in which the author was partly involved, about a blind woman in Kharkiv is one of the real-life stories of the aid delivered by the volunteers from the NGO “The Right to Choose”.

Oleg Lepetiuk

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