Olga Dryga is an internally displaced person from Toretsk. In her hometown, she had everything she needed for a happy life: a family, a job she loved, hobbies, and friends. But the war forced her to flee her home, because she decided that her children should not have to witness the horrors with their own eyes. Now her family lives in the Poltava region, where they are rebuilding their happiness and a peaceful life, and Olga has found not only a new home but also her life’s work.
Before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Olga Dryga was a city dweller through and through. After moving to the Poltava region, she bought a house in the village of Shershnyvka, 20 kilometers from Lubny, and began thinking about how to earn a living and develop her new community. Her story is told by UNDP in Ukraine.
After moving to Shershnyvka, Olga noticed that the village had many abandoned houses where displaced people were settling. This is how the “Crazy Beaver” project was born—an initiative that helps clear the areas around abandoned houses and turn branches into firewood that can be used for heating. She named her project “Crazy Beaver” because she associated the firewood with the trees felled by beavers that she had seen along the banks of the local Sula River.
During the first “community cleanup,” they used the new equipment to clear the area around the bus stop in Shershnyvka and the roadsides near abandoned homes, and distributed the finished wood chips to local IDPs and people with disabilities.
Neighbors saw how Olga and her family were working and came out to help clean up their village. This is how “Beaver” united the community around a common goal.
Thanks to grant support provided under EU4Recovery—a flagship partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union—Olga purchased equipment and set up a system to provide free assistance to internally displaced persons, older adults, and people with disabilities.
Olga says that thanks to her involvement, she already feels like a true resident of Lubny. She is currently developing an eco-farm in Shershnyvka, plans to raise rabbits and produce smoked meats, and eventually provide jobs for her fellow villagers.
Olga Dryga is also the chair of the IDP Council in the city of Lubny. She helps make Poltava Oblast a more comfortable place for displaced people to live, because she understands how difficult it can be to adapt to a new city.“Some cities in Ukraine have centers for displaced people from the Toretsk community, but our city does not. I am currently trying to create a hub in Lubny for displaced persons from the Toretsk community, because it is important for them not only to receive humanitarian aid but also to interact with people who used to live nearby,” explains Olga Dryga.
The Ukrainian people are hardworking and indomitable!
Together to Victory!