Metinvest female employees, as well as the wives and children of our company's employees took part in the third run of the programme. These are people who have lost their loved ones, IDPs and those whose homes have been destroyed by the war. During three weeks, the participants of the programme worked with psychologists in the boarding houses in Western Ukraine to stabilize their psychological and emotional state.
Marina Lemakh, participant of the Unbreakable Mom programme:
— On 16 December, a Russian missile hit our house in Kryvyi Rih. My daughter was head over heels under the rubble, her legs were jammed with a plate. My husband took it out himself. Since then, sense of guilt has been eating me up. I began to be afraid of air-raid alarms, forbade children to be outside during alarms. And only thanks to the psychologists of the Unbreakable Mom project I realized that I was not guilty. I realized that I have to live and to believe in the best. Being in the camp, my daughters calmed down and started feeling happier. Everything was like a remedy for us: caring staff, classes with psychologists, art therapy and even a view of the mountains.
The mothers and children had classes based on an individual schedule: group and individual consultations and classes, in particular body therapy and art workshops. Two camouflage nets made by the participants of the programme have already been handed over to the defenders of Ukraine in Bakhmut. And the proceeds from the sale of pictures from wool will also go to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The participants of the programme also painted a vase made from a mortar shell, which became a lot at the Saving Lives charity auction, which took place on 8 March in Milan.
This year, the project intends to expand its assistance: involve another 500 mothers and 500 children in the psychological and emotional stabilization programme.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group:
— Psychological assistance to women and children is one of the main areas of the Saving Lives initiative. With the support of donors, we are planning to involve in the programme not only Metinvest employees, but also war-affected women and children from the regions where the company operates.
The psychologists of the project created a safe space for mothers and children, for whom the correctional and developmental programme that helps to increase resistance to stress was provided.
Tetiana Muratkyna, head of the Masha Foundation public organisation:
— The mission of the foundation is to restore women for the restoration of Ukraine, For a woman to have a desire to continue an active life, take care of herself and her family. We stabilize the emotional state of women using the best world practices of psychology and our own methodological developments. Women begin to smile and plan their future. After the first week of the programme, women feel better. Because we teach them to overcome difficulties, control and work with their own emotions. After the project, each participant has a "suitcase" of practical exercises that help in stressful situations not only the woman herself, but also the people around her.
The Saving Lives initiative was created by Metinvest Group in coordination with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the year of the full-scale invasion, almost 500,000 people have received a total of 8.4 million euros in assistance through the project. Ukrainians have received more than 4,000 tonnes of foodstuffs and hygiene products, and hospitals - medicines, consumables, and equipment worth more than 246,000 euros.
Together with the Ukraine Prosthetic Assistance Project, the initiative has launched the prosthetics programme that currently encompasses 34 people who underwent limb amputations and are currently going through different stages of the programme. Seven of them have already received prostheses worth up to 30,000 euros.
More than 200 companies from around the world have joined the project as donors. The initiative is supported by 400 volunteers and 10 foundations and non-governmental organisations.