The Museum of Civilian Voices of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation continues to document and file up the stories of the citizens of Donbass in order to tell the whole world about the people who suffered due to the armed conflict at the eastern part of Ukraine. The Museum has already collected over 5,000 of such stories, and by 2025, it aims to get around 100,000.
A resident of Popasnaya town, Natalia Kolomiets, knows firsthand what means a horror of war. In the autumn of 2017, her daughter was injured during shelling and their house was seriously damaged. Thankfully, the girl is all right, she is quite optimistic and believes that everything will be fine soon. The testimony of Natalia was added to the archive of the online museum.
The woman remembers that at the moment of shelling she was at work, while her daughter and mother were staying at home.
– “We were at work and had lunch. Suddenly, something fell down. Everybody got used to this: every time it happens, we all call to our relatives. I called my dad, and he replied: “It was a shell”. I went home at once. My daughter was sitting with her back to the door, and she was hit. We were all frightened. Grandma shouted: “Katya, hide!” and she had blood on her fingers,” shared Natalia
Then my daughter and I were sent to the hospital; fortunately, the girl recovered quite fast. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation supported our family in those difficult times.
– “Katya’s wound healed quickly, it took two months. Then we underwent the rehabilitation offered by The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation,” tells Natalia Kolomiets.
“Civilian Voices” Museum of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is a safe and trustworthy space where people can tell their stories to the world, and thus free themselves from the burden of silence, encouraging others to share their past experiences, in order their fellow countrymen, co-citizens and people around the world could hear, see, realize and feel with their hearts the pain they have faced.
– “We could not open the museum in Donetsk, that`s why we create it online. It will work as an online archive, online expositions, online and offline projects, and also as a media. Rinat Akhmetov helped in the past, is helping now and will continue to help civilians of Donbass. In 2014, the Humanitarian Center was launched, which provided unprecedented assistance and, in fact, saved millions of lives. Each life contains its unique story. We`d like to create the world’s main archive of Civilian stories,” says Natalya Yemchenko, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.
For the “Civilian Voices” Museum, it is very important to preserve each story for the sake of future, for the whole world. If you are a civilian of Donbass, people should know what you have survived! Tell you story! Just click the link https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/ru/my-story, and fill in a short Questionnaire form, or contact our hot line by 0800509001 to contribute to commemorate work.