Donetsk: The quiet that conflict takes away

Sofas smashed, wardrobes destroyed, both couches broken, propped on bricks, to be used for sleeping. “The house is badly damaged. But other than that, we’re managing,” says Olga. Not resignation, not false cheer, just what survival sounds like when ‘managing’ comes to mean still breathing, still finding a place to lie down.

Her story is part of a pattern seen in every protracted conflict: the elderly are particularly affected by the consequences of the ongoing conflict. Their options are fewest, they can’t easily leave or start over, and the people they lean on are often the first ones conflict isolates them from.

Harder to see is the mental toll of not knowing when it will end. Communities don’t get to grieve and rebuild in sequence, they grieve while it’s still happening, with no certainty the walls will stand tomorrow. Even when the guns fall silent, the pain of unresolved struggles remains, as the echoes often do not fade away immediately, but with time. 

Hopefully.

For now, neither the village nor the memories are silent.

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