Stories of the invisible
Case Study: Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)
Brief
Following successful collaborations between Fairpicture and the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) in Syria and Turkey, this was the first time we worked together to collect stories in Ukraine, two years after the outbreak of war there. The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid organisations to raise funds quickly and efficiently in times of humanitarian crisis overseas. For this assignment we worked closely together with their local partner organizations such as Age International, Christian Aid, Helpage , Heritage Ukraine and OXFAM.
The goal was to show the British public how their donations to the DEC continue to help people affected by the conflict in Ukraine through the work of DEC members and their local partners. Therefore our visual creators had to capture photographs, video interviews, b-roll and written case studies of people affected by the conflict in Ukraine and how DEC members and their local partners are supporting them.
We selected a three-person team with Katya Moskalyuk as lead photographer, Victor Sembratovych as cameraman for all video documentation and Oleksandr Shabalkin as their assistant. After the briefing was completed and all partner organisations were prepared for the visit, the team travelled from their home city of Lviv in western Ukraine to the south-eastern part around Dnipro and Odessa. They returned safe and sound and with encouraging stories in their luggage that inspire and give hope.
Client
Disasters Emergency Committee
Visual Creators
Katya Moskalyuk (Photographer), Victor Sembratovych (Cinematographer)
Theme
Long-term aid and capacity building
Locations
Dnipro, Novomoskovsk, Odessa (Ukraine)
Date
July 2024
Mykolaiv region, closer to the border with the Kherson region. At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the village was badly damaged by shelling. In fact, there is not a single surviving house left in the village. The leisure center, organized by the Heritage Foundation, has become a place of recreation for local residents of the village.
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk / Disasters Emergency Committee / Fairpicture
Context
Two years on from the escalation of conflict in Ukraine, the DEC's appeal has raised £426 million and helped an estimated 6.9 million people in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. Thanks to these donations, DEC charities and their local partners have provided food, clean water, shelter, cash payments, healthcare, mental health support and much more. The majority of DEC funds have been spent in Ukraine, and the rest in neighbouring countries. In Ukraine, DEC charities and their local partners have been providing cash payments, food, shelter, hygiene items, healthcare, mental health support and repairing damaged water and sanitation infrastructure.
Our visual creative team visited HelpAge's Community Safe Spaces, where displaced older people can take part in activities such as art therapy or fitness or receive support from a psychologist. They met the people of the community in Mykolaiv, which received a grant from Heritage Ukraine for the Survivor and Community Lead Response group fund. When parts of the Mykolaiv region came under Russian control, many people left the city, but now people are returning and trying to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
Katya and Victor spoke to the people in the various shelters in the destroyed cities and learnt how the conflict has affected their lives, what concerns them, what they dream of and also how the support has helped them not to lose hope and has given many of them the strength to help others.
Larysa Huk was born in the village of Dobropillya, Donetsk region. Received the profession of a nurse and moved to the city of Novomoskovsk. All her life, Larysa worked as a nurse in a boarding house. The boarding house was closed a year ago and the woman retired. The woman's husband recently died, and her son is serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
She says: "I'm flying here like on wings. I'm just drawn. I don't sit at home anymore. I'm lonely at home. I'm just busy all day and don't think about bad things. I come here every day."
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk / Disasters Emergency Committee / Fairpicture
Viktoria Malova works at the Heritage Charitable Foundation. Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, she was a musician, conducting vocal classes for children. Victoria was born in Kherson, and now lives in the city of Nova Odesa. She is thinking of projects that are somehow connected with music, specifically for therapeutic purposes.
She says: “I feel like I’m in my element. Otherwise, I would just live in Odesa and help a few people. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to reach so many people, so many lives, and ask them what they need. At the foundation, I have the tools for this. I can monitor, I can collect feedback. People contact us, we are a kind of a spot where they come. Step by step, I want to use my abilities not just as a person, but as a citizen. I also want to use my talents and skills. Currently, I am thinking of projects that are somehow connected with music, specifically for therapeutic purposes. But anyway, I am going to stay in the charity field”.
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk / Disasters Emergency Committee / Fairpicture
Our editor is over the moon with the quality of the footage, as are we! It is so wonderful to have such a high standard of content to work with, we are very grateful of your hard work. Thank you!
Becky Mansell
Content Gathering Manager at the DEC
Dmytro Shcherbakov works as a project coordinator of the HelpAge International representative office in Ukraine. He is also an internally displaced person. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he and his family were forced to move from the city of Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region to the city of Dnipro. Here he got a job in a humanitarian organization. Dmytro and his wife recently had a child.
He says: “Maybe, people lost their faith but they live and build plans anyway. It’s impossible for a person not to plan. Living one day at a time is difficult. And that’s why we are here, so a person who has lost everything, could plan something and start their new life again or continue living this life. And to make this life even better than they used to have before their loss”.
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk / Disasters Emergency Committee / Fairpicture
It is very important for me to document the stories of people who, despite all difficulties and proximity to the front line, continue to live in Ukraine. I had the opportunity to talk with people who are helped by the DEC and create their environmental portraits. During the trip and work, our team were always able to consult with Becky, who clearly explained the tasks and answered all our questions. I also want to add that cooperation with Fairpicture is always a chance to create sensitive content and present people's stories with dignity.
Katya Moskalyuk
Fairpicture Photographer
Olya is waiting for her colleagues at the entrance to the premises, where in the future there will be a dispatch taxi for people with disabilities.
Olya was born and lives in the city of Mykolaiv. Together with her husband, who also moves around in a wheelchair, they arranged an apartment for themselves. The first months, when Mykolaiv was constantly under fire from the Russian military, were very difficult for Olya. There is no specially equipped bomb shelter for people with disabilities near their home. Today, the city is trying to live a normal life, its residents are returning here, and internally displaced persons are arriving. Olya decided to realize her old dream - to make a control room for taxis that will transport people with disabilities.
She says: “We have many plans. This is just the initial stage. We have already shown you our large space with Vasyl, our other public organization. We want to develop this into a social project, rather than a business, and open a rehabilitation center. In southern Ukraine, especially in Mykolaiv, we don't have a good professional rehabilitation center for people with disabilities”.
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk / Disasters Emergency Committee / Fairpicture
The village of Novohrygorivka is located in the Mykolaiv region, closer to the border with the Kherson region. At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the village was badly damaged by shelling. In fact, there is not a single surviving house left in the village. The leisure center, organized by the Heritage Foundation, has become a place of recreation for local residents of the village.
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk / Disasters Emergency Committee / Fairpicture
Outcome
Katya and Victor returned from their week-long trip through south-east Ukraine with many impressive stories, packed into documentary photos, video interviews and B-roll, as well as life stories that tell of the current situation in a region of the world where a never-ending war determines everyday life.
The content will feature in the DEC's ongoing Ukraine 'reporting back' campaign.
Since Fairpicture and the DEC in Ukraine went so smoothly, it is very likely that Katya and Victor will revisit some of the programmes for follow-up stories in the near future. To share more stories with us that tell of hope in a hopeless time.
Destroyed Russian equipment is on display on the streets of Mykolaiv. Children often use broken equipment as a playground.
Photo: Katya Moskalyuk / Disasters Emergency Committee / Fairpicture
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