"(Un)visible stories": 10 cities will host a photo exhibition about migrants

The photo project "(In)visible stories " can be seen free of charge in the Rescue Assistance Centres in 10 cities of Ukraine, Socialportal reports.

The project tells the stories of nine people who survived captivity, deportation, were sexually abused in the war, or were forced to leave their homes in the temporarily occupied territories.

In the photo project "(Un)visible stories" we showed the belongings of the 9 heroes through the fog to remind society that behind the numbers of statistics are the lives, memories and dreams of people who were forced by war to leave their own homes. We must remember that helping with adaptation and supporting internally displaced people is essential," says Massimo Diana, Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine (UNFPA).

The photos show things that the heroes of the project took with them during the evacuation: the keys to the flat in Berdyansk, a book from the library in Mariupol, a blue-and-yellow ribbon with which a hero went through captivity in Kherson, and others.

Among the things shown in the photo project - jewellery that the occupants tried to tear off the girls at the roadblock, the only bag that the woman managed to take from home before deportation, a note from a friend who stayed in the occupied territories, and others.

It was very painful to leave my home and hometown - everything there was dear to me, but I could not stay under the occupants either. Now I know that the Russians came into the house and took everything out of it. But I cherish the keys - they are my link to my home, and I want to open my door with them. When I first stepped through the threshold of the Rescue Centre, I already understood that this is my place: I feel pleasant and comfortable here, like at home. I dream to open such a centre in my native Berdyansk, it will be very necessary there after de-occupation, - says the heroine of the exhibition Oksana (the names of all the heroes have been changed for safety reasons),

The exhibition will be held in the Rescued Assistance Centres in 10 cities of Ukraine:

• in Chernivtsi from 7 December,
• in Poltava from 8 December,
• in Odessa from 8 December,
• in Dnipro from 11 December,
• in Kharkiv from 11 December,
• in Kropivnitsky from 11 December,
• in Mukachevo from 11 December,
• in Kyiv from 11 December,
• in Zaporozhye from 12 December,
• in Lviv from 13 December.

Addresses and work schedules of the IDCs can be found on the website.

In the Rescue Assistance Centres internally displaced Ukrainians receive free comprehensive social and psychological support, but no less important for them is support from others.

The Rescue Assistance Centres were established on the initiative of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, the assistance of the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with financial support from the governments of Belgium, France, Sweden, and in cooperation with local authorities and NGOs.