Feature: Financial aid from ICRC helps displaced in E. Ukraine to keep roof over head

Krasnoarmeysk, a mining city of 65,000 residents in eastern Ukraine, made international headlines in April 2014, when it was one of the first sites of clashes between government troops and insurgents, who seized administrative buildings, demanding independence.

Now, the violence in Krasnoarmeysk has ceased, the security situation has calmed down and the city became a safe heaven for hundreds of people displaced by the almost two-year-old conflict.

Svetlana Goncharova and her nine-year-old daughter Masha left their hometown of Donetsk last winter and have been living in Krasnoarmeysk since then.

The family is currently renting a small, dark, old-furnished two-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of the host city, which has nothing to offer them, except the safety due to high unemployment rate and poor humanitarian situation.

Goncharova, who worked as a psychologist in Donetsk, has not found a job in Krasnoarmeysk. She relies on unemployment benefits and cash assistance from her relatives to scratch out a living in a new community.

The total income of her family sometimes does not even reach the minimum monthly level for survival in Ukraine of 112 U.S. dollars per two persons. Yet, Goncharova has to pay about 45 dollars for the rented flat each month.

Experiencing difficulties in making enough money to pay the rent, Goncharova is afraid she will be forced to return to her hometown, where sporadic clashes between government troops and insurgents are still underway.

"Currently, we live here, but it is very difficult to pay the rent, particularly during the heating season. I have just got a utility bill. It reads that we should pay an additional 1,000 hryvnyas (about 37 dollars) only for heating this month," Goncharova told Xinhua correspondent with a desperate smile on her face.

In the room of her daughter Masha, a picture is hanging on the wall, depicting the girl with her friends from Donetsk. The inscription on the picture reads: "For peace together!."

Although Masha is missing her friends in Donetsk, she doesn't feel safe enough to return there because she is still afraid of shelling, which has scared her.

Unlike her mother, Masha got adapted to the new life in Krasnoarmeysk. She got many friends at school and at the coteries, where she studies English and clothing design with volunteer teachers. Now, Mash binds her life with Krasnoarmeysk and shapes plans for the future.

"I have a lot of options what profession to choose in future. I want to be a writer, a designer or a model," Masha said.

To help Masha and her mother to temporarily stay in a safe city, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) incorporated the family into its cash assistance program aimed at supporting unemployed displaced people and their dependents.

Helping the displaced families to stay in decent housing is one of the goals of the ICRC program, launched in 2015, which is now underway in 16 districts of Lugansk and Donetsk regions.

Under the initiative, about 6,000 of beneficiaries are receiving a monthly allowance of about 19 dollars from the Red Cross to cover their everyday expenses, such as food, housing and medicines.

Currently, many displaced people in eastern Ukraine live mainly at the expense of their hosts or rely on aid from local authorities. For their families, life became a hand-to-mouth existence. The financial aid from the ICRC is viewed by such people as one of the few tools to save them from malnutrition and keep the roof over their heads.

"Of course, this help is vital because we are experiencing troubles in finding the job, but anyway, we have to pay the rent. Earlier, we watched people in such difficult situations on TV, but we did not understand them. Now, we do. You should experience it to understand it," Goncharova said. Endit