Thin, fragile line

Shebekino is a small town in the south of Russia with a population of 40 thousand people. The largest settlement of fifteen, where the emergency regime is now in effect and whose inhabitants need help every day. To the border with Ukraine from Shebekin - a little more than five kilometers directly on foot, to the regional center - Belgorod - 32 kilometers along the highway by car. After a massive artillery shelling on the night of June 1, thousands of refugees reached for Belgorod. How they cope with trouble and who helps them - in the report of Svetlana Lomakina

We help the Holy Belogorye against children's cancer collected 1,443,528 We need to sacrifice

The train from Belgorod to Kislovodsk - or rather, two wagons - left half empty. After the start of hostilities, the train from Belgorod goes in a truncated composition, and only other wagons are clinging to them along the way to them. We were attached to us in Kursk 20 "Moscow" wagons.

In Belgorod, a woman of about 65 years old with a schoolgirl-listen entered my compartment. When they moved, both stuck to the window. The granddaughter waved to those who remained on the platform. Grandmother cried behind her.

“I was“ lucky ”twice,” she explained later. - In the nineties with her daughter, she fled from Grozny to Belgorod. Now I'm running with a granddaughter from Belgorod to Kislovodsk. While for the summer, and there we'll see. ”

"But Zhenya, she knows!"

Two weeks before departure, my compartment neighbor worked on sorting things for Shebekins. Her neighbor on a high -rise building gathered cereals and canned food at their house, men drove food and things to the interim placement of refugees. Belgorod united and issued an incredible efficiency of mutual assistance.

And while I was looking for which of this “folk camp” of the efficiency is more powerful, I stumbled upon the Foundation “Holy Belogorye against Children's Cancer” - volunteers and Shebekin residents spoke about it, and the Belgorodians sent those in need of it. I called and found out that the fund is working and volunteering mainly people “with biographies”: mothers of cancer patients in remission, or oncomal themselves in remission, or Shebekin residents, who escaped from shelling and came to help. Only 20 people.

Evgenia Kondratyuk at work, in the premises of the Fontakhoto room: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

“I would like to say that I am as conscious as it all began, rushed to help. But no, - Evgenia Kondratyuk, director of the fund, will be heard. - Shebekins led me to consciousness. Because at first we did not understand anything at all. And on Saturday, June 3, a barefoot woman entered our charity store. “I'm from Shebekin. We left, what were we. Can I take shoes and clothes?” Here, awareness came: there will be more, we must do something ... "

There was more further: the employees of the fund went to the temporary placement point for the Belgorod-Arena stadium, and collected orders from there. In the first days after June 1, there was a darkness there, but there was even nowhere to wash. The smell stood such that it was pinching in the eyes and the head was spinning. Eugene assessed the situation, recorded, interviewed. At a certain moment, representatives of the authorities arrived there. One of the mothers handed the child to the child in a heavy diaper: “Where should I wash him? What can you tell us? "

Children of the fund employees also pack bags with humanitarian. And this is a break, they play photography: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

The official, without thinking twice, turned to Kondratyuk: "But Zhenya, she knows!"

Eugene stunned from such a turn, at first she thought to take everyone to her home, but she lives far, outside the city, and you do not transport everyone. Therefore, the hotels phoned. She said honestly: "We will arrange a bacchanal in you - we will carry the Shebekins for a day to wash." The administrator of one of them, lowering her voice, said in the phone: “Come on, only I don’t know that. OK?" - "OK".

What will not be written in the newspapers

For two weeks, the fund employees worked almost around the clock: during the day they gave food, clothes, hygiene items. In the evenings and nights they received calls and processed requests from chats of assistance on the Internet. It was possible to join the volunteer work literally from the threshold, and many Shebekins did so - so as not to drive thoughts in a circle and not trample the laminate in the apartments of relatives.

Vadim also came from the street. He is 16 years old. He is a musician, plays a guitar and a pipe and gamerite, like all teenagers. And then the axis happened to what happened: Vadik flinched, then gathered and now plays in some completely different game. Looking for slippers and diapers in a warehouse and entertains the baby with conversations.

A resident of Shebekin Katya runs with applications right there. Previously, she worked in the cultural department, was engaged in tourism and all kinds of events. Now artistically lays a humanitarian. Nearby is disassembled by her daughter bags with toys.

A city near the PVR and the monastery, where refugeesmphoto helps: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

“We did not want to leave Shebekin at all. Whoever ask, anyone will say - in a year and a half we are used to these sounds. And they distinguished them. The sound like “Kevin on the box rolls down the stairs in the film“ One Home ”-this is“ arrival. ”And if, like a salute, the air defense works. And only when“ Grad ”flew on June 1 at three in the morning, it became really scary.“ Leave, I will stay with the cat. ”We left, and the neighbors were taken to the apartment, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but Thank God they themselves brought things to me, and in things the glass - apparently, we got the windows. ”

An apartment without windows is an invitation to the looters. Because of them, many Shebekin residents refused to leave their homes. Houry, chickens, cows and seriously ill children and the elderly hold people. In the very first days, the locals organized a telegram channel of help. Activists appeared in it, ready to throw the dog through the fence, take out the cat, and deliver water and medicine for the patient. Due to the fact that there was no light and water in the city, the remaining shelling sat phones. The relatives asked the volunteers to get to the place, to check whether their relatives were alive, and give the phone a few words.

One of these auto -volunteers was the husband of Karina Kuzmina, she was a nurse from Shebekin, used to work at the stadium, and now she helps to collect medicines in the fund. During the shelling, her grandmother's apartment burned out. They left quickly, then the husband began to return for those who could not reach the bus himself. Now he is wiping in Shebekin, performs requests from acquaintances and relatives.

This is how the package assembled according to the application: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

Since the town is small, many know each other in person. And each death - there were no official figures yet, but, according to rumors, more than 200 people died - this is not just a line in the report, but a person with history.

And personal pain.

The hairdresser who went to the window during shelling and was left without a face. Grandmother, that she went out into the garden to hide the beds - and there she remained to lie. A woman with burnt legs - her child hurt her hand, miraculously survived. And a surgeon, a wonderful local surgeon who saved the wounded children.

These people were not talked about in the media. And the locals say. And they remember all cases. And they are surprised why the news is not saying that, but very, very different.

Cartoons do not show at the end!

Since the initiative is punishable, from June 5, 122 emergency operators began to be sent to “Holy Belogorye against children's cancer” of more and more new people. The fund had no choice but to quit the cry for help: we needed slippers, large robes, blankets, mattresses ...

“And now it’s not necessary to ask - the cars are going and going,” Eugene's applications are leafing through. - Moreover, from all over Russia, everyone helps what he can. Yesterday, even a strawberry from Krasnodar was brought, and tomorrow KamAZ with flour and vegetable oil from Stavropol will come, bedding from Tula is being taken, and from the north there is a large batch in the world. And all this is purely business of private traders. ”

Evgenia Kondratyuk on the territory of the children's hospice: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

These delivery also happen because the philanthropists are sure: their things will not appear on Internet sites and in stores, but will reach the addressees intact and safety. The reason is in Evgenia Kondratyuk, in her reputation.

In 2009, she came to the Holy Belogorye against Children's Cancer by a volunteer. And a year later, when the former leader left, she took her place. Over 13 years, 30 thousand rubles increased from the annual turnover to 40 million. The fund has its own hospice, a rehabilitation center, two charitable stores and a lot of programs for children and their parents. All programs were born from the request: there was a problem, and it had to be solved. Kondratyuk went to friends, to acquaintances or even strangers - and explained why they needed to help. Further, the mind, personal charm and a little household magic worked miracles - any doors opened in front of Zhenya.

But before such a state, she was supposed to grow herself - not without difficulties and not without sorrows.

Zhenya has a genetic disease in which tumors appear in different places of the body. At the age of 29, she underwent several operations on the spine - with difficulty tearing her legs from the ground. The husband, looking at such a turn of events, darted to the left.

Eugene sings with Lisa "Cloud" photo: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

-I was so cherry that I decided: with this I had to do something, somewhere to redirect my thoughts. I went to the site “Give Life”, and there was the prayer of St. Francis of Assisian: “Help me, Lord, not so much to look for comfort, but to console, not so much to seek understanding - how to understand, not so much to look for love - how to love. For whoever gives it - he receives who forgets himself - finds himself again ... ”And it was sticking me: I want to live like that! - Zhenya raises his eyebrows. - And healed. I came to this fund, for some time I worked as an executive director. And then I started problems with the jaw: a tumor. I underwent 12 operations, part of the jaw was removed. But there were good news: in the Internet toy met her current husband. He was from Kyiv. Then, Russia and Ukraine were normal, and I went to a conference in Kyiv. We met. Everything is love! Until now, she has not gone anywhere. Thanks to my husband, I did another operation on the jaw, I didn’t want to, tired-and then I returned to the fund already as a leader. In fact, we are led along with my best friend Irina Avdeeva, and all our relatives are included in the work: husbands, children, friends.

- And you yourself have many children?

- A lot? Well, maybe - Zhenya laughs. - Four. Two from the first marriages, two from this - the youngest son seven, daughter two years old. I gave birth to her at 40 after a severe Covid, relapse of oncology, in the interval there was a tumor of the larynx, removed in Moscow. But because of this, we have a center for escorting adult oncopacients.

- How do you take all this?

- And remember such a children's game - “Wolf with eggs”? At first, it is difficult to catch the eggs at first, and then, when the speed increases, only substitute the basket - they almost do not break. Here I am - like that wolf with eggs.

- But there, at the end, I remember, they promised to show the cartoon. I have never reached the end. Eat?

- Lie! No cartoon is shown at the end! There the wolf is dancing, damn it!

We laughed and gathered at the hospice.

"We try to run away faster than each other"

Hospice "Emerald City" is located 70 kilometers from Belgorod. Today, in addition to palliative children, seven children from the Bolshetroitsky neuropsychiatric boarding school live there, they were taken out from under the shelling, and two families from under Shebekin.

While we are going, Zhenya is sleeping - in Nikolsky, where she lives, artillery thundered all night again. And in the morning there was an unloading of KamAZ Humanitarian. Now we carry flour and oil to the hospice. The other day there will be pancakes. Eugene says that food is one of the simple pleasures accessible to man. Therefore, it is impossible to refuse delicious food in a ward.

Children's hospice "Emerald City" Photo: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

She herself a noble cook and carefully selected the staff for the hospice. However, like everything else. Therefore, the "Emerald City" is very different from the usual hospice. This is rather a holiday house or sanatorium. A beautiful place, an unusual project in which every detail is thought out, including the relaxation rooms and the chapel, where all the icons hang so that you can drive up to them in a wheelchair.

Shebekin residents, who are hiding from shelling in the "Emerald City", say: "We are the most thieves in the world of refugees, we are very lucky!"

For the first time I heard such words from Tanya. He with a dog, mother and twelve -year -old Alevtina live in a large spacious room. Equipment of the European level and even a special table with containers that do not allow dinners to cool.

Canteen Hospicefoto: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

We suddenly fall on the second birthday of Alevtina. Tanya orders his wife a gluten -free cake. Ten years ago, May 27, Ala fell out of the window. She fell into a coma, the doctors did not give a chance to life, but on June 12, a three -year -old girl suddenly came to life. And since then he has been living. So, as palliative children live.

“This happened when we were in St. Petersburg at a party. He went to smoke and did not close the window well. We were distracted for conversations - we have not seen each other for a long time, ”says Tanya. - Alinka went out the window. All this took seconds. The year then was abnormal for falling. A boy was lying with us in the ward. We fell out of the second floor, and he-from the third, but his legs are broken, and here we have ... now, by the way, almost everything is fine: we breathe, we chew, swallow! And several times a year we lie in this hospice. ”

The hospice opened in 2020 - Alina was one of his first guests. And when the shelling began, Zhenya called them and rushed so that they would not be tightened.

- And we pulled and pulled. Yeah, in Nizhny Berezov, a neighbor in the garden killed. The kingdom of heaven. We live. They bombed nearby at home. Yeah, we were carried, thank God. We live. And then, on the 31st night, at three o’clock, ka-ak was given! - Tanya throws her hands. - I think: well, everything, I will send the eldest to the camp and run.

The name of one of the rooms in children's hospice and: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

- It is so long ago. On January 31, they fired at, - the mother of Tatyana Natalya Mikhailovna enters into the conversation. - On March 8, the child was taken from Belgorod - the "grades" flew. Further more. Children did not go to school, but the eldest granddaughter has diabetes, she needs to move - and where to go if they shoot everywhere? House arrest.

- Once they went out with a girlfriend, and a drone is circulating above them! Such a time has gone - like a terrible movie! .. We have Kharkov nearby, relatives, everything is mixed up. When it began, I say: "What are you sitting there, do not leave?" Yeah! And now you yourself - try to quit your house! The house was built on maternity capital, not completed. Child - you see for yourself. Bahahs constantly, she cries, does not sleep at night ...

Tanya speaks and talks about pain, fear, about “bangs” and “arrivals”: ​​the accumulated pain is torn from it with words and tears.

Evgenia in the ward with a woman -house: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

“They say that we all united, Shebekin residents.” Who helps us - yes, united. People, these women are beautiful, - Tanya nods at Zhenya and Ira. - Thanks to them. And the Shebekins ourselves ... We are in stores at the box office, when we recognize each other, we try to run away faster, leave.

- Explain?

- Well, here I am gathering a child to the camp, we go to the store. I say mine: "We close our eyes and take it on a minimum." We have no money! I see the same, with a cart, with a child, bewildered. Yeah, ours! Who wants to be poor, without a roof over your head? There is no joy from this recognition. I am my eldest, she is 15 years old, I say: “Uncle will take you from the camp to Peter. Look there, daughter, work. It's time to get to your feet, hoping, I’m no longer an assistant. ”

- Well, maybe it will be better further?

- Maybe it will be. Or maybe not. Up to 30 years, my whole life was painted for years. How Ala stepped into the window - that's it! I live one day. And now even more so. Today we are the most thieves' refugees. And tomorrow it will be visible.

After Tanya, we visit another family with a palliative child and finish bypass in the department, where lying from under the shelling lying in the cribs lying from the firms. In the room, a tiny liza, having thrown her head back, sings about "clouds - white -heater horses." Eugene picks up the song, and for some time they sing together-the “clouds” float along the corridor and melt somewhere behind the arrow: “refuge”.

Children smile. Eugene says that in the "Emerald City" nannies are pumping them in their arms. Children from the stump are good here.

"I can no longer in this PVR!"

In the morning of the next day, I am going to the largest point of temporary placement of Belgorod, which is located on the basis of the educational and sports complex Svetlana Khorkina-the fund is lucky there medicines, walkers and bedding. The lobby is crowded. Residents of 15 settlements where the emergency regime has been introduced, 10 thousand rubles are issued. Suddenly, changes occurred in the lists: some of the settlements were thrown away. After the waves of popular anger, they returned, but still incomprehensible, vainly, often scandalous. With letters to the governor and complaints about the inaction of the Shebekin authorities.

Around the corner in the same building under the sign: "Happy holiday, dear Belgorod!" The residents are given out the money of the Red Cross. The line does not know the exact amount, according to rumors, this is five thousand rubles. People lose their turn, nervous, swear, and then suddenly they are happy to find each other.

PVR in the sports complex of Svetlana Horkinoophoto: Svetlana Lomakina for TD

One vocal neighbor, hearing a familiar burry shout, flew out of the crowd and rushed to the sound:

- Natasha! And you are here! Living!

- That sho will do me? I will survive everyone!

The women hugged and stuck. One was sheltered by his niece, the other while he was picked up in the PVR.

“Have you heard what the looters are doing there?” They say that the military has already settled in the huts?

I am guessing to the conversation and listening to a few unpleasant, to put it mildly, stories. Особенно меня поражает случай с холодильником: женщина, уехавшая из Шебекина, искала на «Авито» дешевый холодильник, а нашла свой, расписанный когда-то ее маленькой дочерью.

— А еще вид бизнеса у них там образовался: вон, глядите, — Наташа показала мне объявление: «Присмотрю за вашим домом в Шебекинском районе. Цена 30 тысяч рублей».

- Yes! Тянут все, вплоть до новых розеток! И патрули там ходят, и все такое, а я вот каждый день думаю: сорвусь, поеду, проверю.

— И останусь, — добавляет соседка. — Я бы, если бы обратно пустили, осталась бы под обстрелами. Не могу уже больше в этом ПВР.

Объявление, которое шебекинцы нашли на «Авито»Фото: Светлана Ломакина для ТД

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В ПВР правда несладко: в спортивном зале среди сотен кроватей живут в основном пожилые и люди с инвалидностью. Одинокие, те, у кого очень далеко дети, или те, кто отказывается уезжать из родных мест. В зале стоит особенный запах: меновазина, валерьянки, памперсов — старости. Среди всего этого бегают студенты-волонтеры.

Многие работают здесь по несколько смен подряд, волонтеры-медики, к примеру, еле держатся на ногах. Ночи выдаются по большей части бессонные: пожилым людям душно, плохо, у них болят от сеток спины, и они просто хотят домой.

Тем, кто заехал с животными, легче: собаки и кошки просятся гулять, тянут хозяев на улицу, а там совершенно другая жизнь — сочная трава, яркое солнце, бьют фонтаны и люди танцуют в парке Победы под Женю Осина. Эти два мира разделяет тонкая стена.

Такая тонкая, что тем, кто за ней в пункте временного размещения, ее практически не видно: им кажется, что их беда касается всех. И она правда касается многих, иначе бы люди не объединились и не стали бы помогать. Но многие — это не все.

По выходным в белгородском парке Победы танцыФото: Светлана Ломакина для ТД

Потому что есть и другие повороты, другие уровни, на которых «все идет по плану» и для которых шебекинцев, как они говорят, как бы нет. Отсюда и горькие разговоры о том, что 50 тысяч, обещанные государством выплаты, не заменят разрушенного дома. И не вернут родных. А еще слухи.

Слухи о том, что надо было ехать не в Белгород, а как можно дальше: в Сибирь, за Урал, а лучше — на Луну.

На Луне же пока еще не воюют?

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Помочь жителям Шебекина и прифронтовых сел можно, нажав красную кнопку. Деньги уйдут в фонд «Святое Белогорье против детского рака» и будут потрачены на средства гигиены и товары первой необходимости.