Olga's main occupation today – is running a household and cultivating 32 acres of land in a village in Sumy Oblast. At 72, she, a former medical doctor, does not rely solely on the help of children or the state. Having received financial assistance within the framework of the project from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Ukraine, which is implemented by the public organization "Association for Democratic Development", Ms. Olga was able to update equipment and garden equipment for the first time in many years by purchasing an incubator, seeder, feed chopper and other agricultural equipment. With the harvest grown over the summer, it provides not only the family, but also helps the neighbors with preservation and fresh vegetables. How to live in a border village and how she runs her farm — read about it later in her story.

My name is Olga. I live in the village of Sobych in the Shostky district of the Sumy region. I am 72 years old. In general, I am a doctor by education, already retired. What do I do? I grow vegetables — beets, carrots. I plant potatoes, cultivate 32 acres of land. It's not a little, in my opinion. That's my job. In general, I am engaged in household chores.

The man died two years ago. Children help, but come only for weekends. So I live alone for a whole week.

She left, chose nine buckets of tomatoes at once. Where were they to go? And in our village there are such families where women get sick, or the men themselves stayed, or the displaced people live. So I give them those tomatoes. One IDP helped me bring potatoes to the cellar —, so I hung them with bags of vegetables for that. I have no knack for trading, it's easier for me to give. We have one family here carrying bread — and I will give them something.

This is the first time that it was possible to receive financial assistance from an international donor for the renewal of machinery and agricultural equipment. This has never happened in all the years that I live here. I am not local, I came here to work, and I have been living here for 53 years. Once something was bribed, but so that at once so many — did not hear and dream that such a thing could happen.

I learned about help from a village group on the Internet. The village mayor wrote that there will be a support program for the development of households. My daughter came and helped arrange it, because her phone is touch-sensitive, normal like that. Everything was designed easily and simply.

I bought a root cutter, a seeder for spring sowing, a feed chopper, a stirrup, a telescopic secateurs — for cutting the garden, because it is no longer the youth to climb ladders. I also bought a watering hose, it's a good one. You will take the old one to the sun, it shrinks due to the fact that it has warmed up, the water does not run. I also took fertilizers, because there used to be two cows, there was manure, and now we have to buy additional ones.

I bought an incubator because my old — is manual, very old. Now I have a new one that turns the eggs over itself, controls moisture and temperature. For chickens, — is a drinker and a feeder, because up to fifty or more babies are incubated at once.

I also bought a small greenhouse — greenhouses for tomatoes and peppers. Because what we do ourselves is enough from agrofiber or film — for a year or two, and then the hail will beat or the wooden base will shake. Everything must be done anew.

When the full-scale invasion began in 2022, we were not going anywhere. However — would stay at home. Then, we can say, we did not feel the war, it did not fly here. Unless they heard something explode in Shostka or Novgorod-Siverskyi. But they didn't see anything terrible. And thank God. Now the situation has changed, especially since the summer of this year. It also became "loud" in our area, as they say. But I stay here to live. How to leave it all?

I plan to plant everything as usual in the spring: potatoes, beets, carrots, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans. As soon as the earth warms up, I will put the boys, dig them up, and life will play again.

Despite the fact that Sumy Oblast remains among the regions that directly feel the consequences of hostilities, economic activity is supported as much as possible. International and humanitarian aid aimed at rebuilding communities, supporting IDPs and developing small farms (as in Olga's case) is critical to the region's food security. The situation in the region remains tense, but demonstrates the resilience of the local population.

​The project is implemented by the NGO "Association of Democratic Development" together with Норвезькою радою у справах біженців (NRC) в Україні за підтримки Уряду Німеччини.