'A support group is an initiative set up by volunteers to off psycological help to war widows"
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Transcript
00:00 It's been a year and one month since Vitaly Plaskin, husband to Kateryna and father to
00:05 Khlyb, was killed near Donetsk.
00:08 He joined the army one week after the full-scale invasion.
00:17 He had no military training or experience.
00:20 He just understood that, well, the way he put it was, "How will I look at myself in
00:26 the mirror if I don't do this?"
00:29 He showed me what a family should be, what happiness is.
00:32 So you look at the photos and somehow remember that, that everything was good and he was
00:37 happy.
00:38 That's probably the worst thing about the war.
00:40 People who have got absolutely everything to be happy and fulfilled in life die.
00:52 In the garden of a local sculptor who is himself away at the front, Kateryna attends a support
00:57 group.
00:58 An initiative set up by volunteers to offer psychological help to war widows.
01:04 I finally got around to looking at gravestones.
01:09 In today's therapy session our theme was "Who was I before the bereavement and who am I
01:13 now?"
01:14 And now we have an art therapy activity on the theme of "What do I want in the future?"
01:21 They're invited to express that through collage.
01:23 Till that sixth month I've been really hard and so my collage is mostly about holidays.
01:32 With my kids we're going to visit all the castles of Ukraine.
01:35 I've already found a tour.
01:38 It's not really architecture we want to see.
01:40 We were always more interested in nature.
01:42 Kateryna imagines her son growing up to be quite the hunk.
01:47 But if the war doesn't go the right way, nothing will come of any of this.
01:52 Because he'll go the way of his father and for that matter so will I.
01:58 The group's participants and organisers are all not just dreaming of Ukrainian victory,
02:03 but looking to do what they can to help achieve it.
02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]