Olga
5.24.2023

A bomb exploded 50 meters away from Olga. The blast wave threw her into the hay barn where she was going to tend her cow. One piece of shrapnel grazed her head without causing serious injury. Later, the woman found several other large pieces of shrapnel nearby.

It was a miracle that Olga remained alive and almost unharmed. During the war, living in an active combat zone in the Zaporizhzhia region, Olga saw many terrible things: a neighbor whose leg was torn off, an explosion in a barn that killed three cows, at every turn she came across unexploded cluster bombs and many pieces of shrapnel. She can already tell the difference between explosions and knows how to know the next one is coming – but even that doesn’t always help her take cover in time.

“I’m afraid to see my house destroyed,” the woman explains why she doesn’t want to move to a safer place. Having lived here since she was six years old, she is very attached to this place.

The woman is very afraid of shelling. She always sleeps in her overcoat and is practically never separated from her flashlight. When shelling starts, she goes down to the cellar, which she heats with a small stove that isn’t good even for boiling some water.

School Without Walls leaders installed an iCare stove for her, which can provide more heating now. She can also use it to make food.

Olga put an armchair near the stove, in which she sleeps while waiting for the danger to pass.

The team also brought Olga an iCare package with a variety of food, so necessary for life. They also shared the good news with her and gave her a Bible.

People so close to war often encounter what they call a miracle. And Christians want to share with them the message of the One who does these miracles and keeps them out of danger where no one else can help them.