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When Valentina and Yuri Babenko were first married and then son Anton was born, they all lived together in one small room of just 9 square meters. This continued until Anton was 10 years old and the family decided to build their own house in Irpin. After building the house with their own hands, they later built an extension to the house in 2010.

Their son Anton is now a scientist. In the first days of the war, he went to the draft board to register to fight in the war, but they didn’t take him because in addition to scientific work, he is also a lecturer at the university.

When their house was bombed, the family was in Western Ukraine. They did not want to leave home, but it became very dangerous and they had to leave. In the bombings, everything in the family’s house burned down. Most of all, the family is sad that they will never again see the photos that were in the house from their wedding and their son’s childhood. And they cry when they describe what a huge library was in their house. Son Anton is additionally grieving that all the manuscripts of his dissertation, which he wrote and defended, were also destroyed. Copies of them remain in the library of the university, but the original manuscripts, which were precious as a memory, are gone.

Now Yuri and his son are actively helping ZSU (Zbroini syly Ukrainy, the armed forces of Ukraine). volunteering after work. And the family dreams of restoring their home; they cannot imagine how long it will take, but they do not despair.

About two months ago, a church promised them a modular house—they even installed piles (the foundation for the house), but then disappeared. When the family phoned the church, they were told that, unfortunately, they would not be able to put up a house because funding for this project had ended. The family continues to live in a tiny apartment with their friends and is needing a place to live while they rebuild their home. in