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Sasha Dasha and Via drive to Luca shifka
in Northern Ukraine nearly every weekend
to help rebuild it early in the war The
Village was occupied by Russian forces
and Now lies in
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Ruins if it w for these young people
we'd be left with
nothing the group is part of ke's techn
scene here they're channeling their
creativity into
construction the worst thing that can
happen to a person in war is to lose
optimism because then you die
inside can the team in spite of War and
the cold give the villagers back their
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home
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Air Raid Sirens were blaring here in
keev just a few hours ago but already
people are back on the dance floor
dancing to is the team from repair
together winding down the day there's
nothing wrong with partying during war
says Sasha
kuchinski it doesn't mean that we
forgotten the war we think about it
every
day but the war is not our life it
shouldn't completely define Our
Lives if you only see and think about
the horror everywhere at some point your
own life will become nothing but horror
but we are here to live and to help
others
live helping others is not on the team's
agenda until tomorrow Sasha and his
girlfriend Dasha continue the party at
home that's how they get around the
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curf after Russia launched its Invasion
Dasha kosyakova took up DJ
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the war has played a role for me in the
sense that I now pursue everything I've
always wanted to do like dancing and
being a DJ I now know I can't put it off
Forever at some point the war and the
fear of death made me realize I can no
longer
wait you have to do it here and now and
not wait for the perfect moment because
that will never
come for dash the war is bringing back
memories of 2014 when she still lived in
luhansk in eastern Ukraine she partied
back then too even as gunshots rang out
outside her open
window my dad said to my uncle why did
you open the window close it close it
when my uncle closed the window again I
thought okay everything's fine I
realized that we can't control what's
happening outside right now but we can't
decide whether to worry or not we can at
least try to be happy even if a rocket
is about to come kill us all we may die
but we die happy not just waiting around
for
death the next morning there's another
air raid
warning and at home what's left of last
night's party
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Dasha and Sasha are running late they're
heading north today where a village
awaits
them after Russia launched its invasion
in February of 2022 Dasha quit her job
in the marketing department of an IT
firm she helped start a new Venture
repair together which manages privately
funded reconstruction project
Sasha and two other friends are part of
the effort as
well before launching repair together
Sasha worked as a creative
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director repair togethers motto
community and
creativity in the summer of 2022 the
team organized construction Raves in
Northern Ukraine their videos quickly
went viral and inspired hundreds of
helpers from all over the world to
travel to the Villages almost every
weekend the Raves soon attracted the
attention of reporters influencers and
international
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donors we dropped our phone there at the
end some point after organizing these
Raves we noticed that the volunteers
feel much Freer and better at the end of
their workday they're smiling again
having fun playing
guitar it felt for a moment like life
was returning to
normal like everything was good
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again
via afanasova is the third member of the
team before the war the 28-year-old
worked for other
NOS back then she was mostly behind a
desk now she's constantly on the Move
traveling from Village to
Village I think I visit the Villages of
lashka yah and ianka more often than my
Grandma's Village we've been going there
pretty much every weekend from May until
September of
2022
now that it's colder and there are fewer
volunteers coming forward things have
slowed down but the villagers still
depend on the team's help because the
state isn't able to rebuild private
homes right
now we have a lot of responsibility and
I really want to help if we weren't
around things would be very
bad Dasha Sasha and Via have met up in
the center of keev and are ready to
leave
they are accompanied by two friends who
are there to film them the team knows
having a vibrant internet presence is
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important
Dasha Sasha and Via may be on their own
this time so far no one else has come
forward to help rebuild Luca
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shifka they arrive almost 3 hours later
in early March 2022 Russian soldiers
occupied the village of less than 500
people Ukrainian forces liberated The
Village 3 weeks later but the fighting
had already killed many people and
destroyed most of the houses and cars
since then many here no longer have a
home come in come in my
dears
the team is being hosted by Nadia
Ivanova known as grandma Nadia they've
been staying with her since they started
work in the
village is that a snow
suit yes imagine that a used snow suit
Grandma Nadia pulled it out of a relief
Convoy for
Vi
wow
stylish
here the team can rest up and
recharge pour some vodka here and there
yep got it did you pour V for
everyone have everything on the table
bacon onions sausage try the salad and
the
Cucumbers the team met graad while
working here in the
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summer I wondered where these Golden
Kids came from nobody had helped us here
in the village
before vaa hand out the
forks and suddenly this one wonderful
kids show up running around here in the
heat rebuilding
things when I saw them in the summer I
went down to The Cellar and got juice
and pickles for
them pickles are good for the
soul even around the dinner table the
war is not far from mind the fighting
destroyed the only doctor's office in
the village sure
you have no one with medical
training no nobody but I sometimes go to
the people myself to the Granny's to
give them
injections seriously
seriously I inject antibiotics
everything I know how to dilute the
drugs properly I know where to prick but
I don't inject
intravenously other than that I
administer all the
shots
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there are still no volunteers for
tomorrow let's see if we can get some
work done whether anyone shows up at
all I say we check again
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tomorrow
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the next day begins with a prayer in a
local church it's been destroyed but the
villagers still come here every
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Saturday no one has come forward to help
at the construction
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site so far there are only four rows of
bricks vaa and Dasha want to have the
house completely finished in 3 months
time to get to
work but right away they run into a
problem the construction manager moved
the concrete mixer to another property
and didn't let us know now we have to
mix it by
hand the construction manager is not in
the village today and can't
help I'm pretending I'm spreading
frosting on a
cake
in the summer these work trips looked
very different the team was joined by
hundreds of
volunteers together they cleaned up more
than 120 properties renovated 20 and
built seven
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homes that's just not possible right now
it's too cold
besides via and Dasha want only women to
work on this particular site they want
to teach women how to build houses they
say men on construction sites often
don't take women
[Laughter]
seriously
the men our help and
support maybe you can mix the
cement no he's not allowed he should
entertain
us okay then entertain
us we like telling classic sexist jokes
that women have a fit if they break a
fingerna for example people usually
think it's cute that we work in
construction but they assume we'll end
up asking the men for
help like enough posing with concrete
blocks enough
already Dasha and Via hope this project
will show construction managers that
women mean
business
time to call it quits for today the team
is thinking about how they can attract
more
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helpers
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we're not just here to build things but
also to spend time in the Village People
often join us because of that it's an
unusual experience and because we share
our experience in creative ways they
think it's fun it's not just that you
come here build and then
leave honestly I think some people are
just up for hanging out with us too
that's why they sign up to
[Laughter]
work creating community and having fun
all the more important in times of
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War
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the worst thing that can happen to a
person in war is to lose optimism
because then you die
inside come see
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us the war's damage is visible
everywhere by some miracle Grandma
Nadia's house was spared during the
fighting at a tank shell hit only the
shed in her backyard still she's afraid
of another
attack of course when I go to bed I'm
always afraid I won't survive the night
because something will come flying at me
again
a splinter flew in
here and more right
here this door won't close
either and there were six big holes
right
here this store is new vasher and the
group brought it from
ke
during the occupation Grandma Nadia
tried to hide her children and
grandchildren in her Cellar she says
Russian soldiers found them and led them
outside they all knelt in a row here on
the shards of the destroyed Windows my
grandchildren my
children the Russians cut my oldest
grandson deon's face with a
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knife
and the next morning he was taken to the
church to be
shot his mother my daughter was
screaming she had a stroke at the age of
37 she's been going from Doctor to
doctor for half a year but has not
received proper treatment since then she
can't feel her whole right side her face
is all distorted and my grandson's hair
has turned gray from the terrifying
experience
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she says her grandson was spared because
he was underage at the
time the team knows these stories well
and feels a sense of responsibility for
the people here but still no one else
has signed up to help no nobody
knew I suggest the two of us just
continue
working
it's time to do some filming to keep the
attention of their business partners
donors and volunteers the team needs to
stay visible the best way to do that is
with creative videos first stop the
Church of the
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Ascension during the occupation Russian
soldiers stored ammunition interrogated
people and shot suspects
here the church was almost completely
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destroyed when I wave raise the mic and
say Church of the Ascension
okay Church of the
Ascension
the team has long used humor to
advertise its
work we're shooting a short intro about
30 seconds long it's an intro for a
video where we talk about the village
where we did most of our
work last year officials in Luca shifka
gave the team a long list of villagers
who had lost their homes in all 42
houses were left in ruins the team has
been able to rebuild six of them getting
most of the building materials from
donors business partners and
Foundations construction managers
oversee the effort and teach volunteers
what to
do but sometimes it's all just a bit too
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much
we all get really down sometimes I don't
know if you know the expression
sometimes we just can't take it
anymore but when I hear the Villager
stories and know that I can help them I
get
inspired after all I can somehow
organize my own life but the villagers
can't especially the
elderly good evening hello
sorry for the
delay I've called you so many
times Olga ivanovna's house burned down
during the fighting she barely escaped
with her life she's about to move into
this new house with her grandson and
daughter I see you've already set up a
kitchen
if it weren't for these young people
we'd be left with nothing when we
cleaned up everything we turned off the
gas and covered everything with a tar
because we thought no one would lay gas
lines anymore no one would help
rebuild we can't do that sort of work on
our
own but then this miracle happened that
none of us had
expected
it's just Dasha and Vio working again
today they stop by a supermarket to
stock
up the cashier is nah she's supposed to
move into the house as soon as it's
finished
can I pay with credit card yeah
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sure the Russ burned down my house and
my car but we still managed to get away
and hide in the
basement we lost
everything if
everything the house and everything
inside it except for the old sheds in
the yard everything is
gone we took out a home loan for
$115,000 I'm slowly paying that off but
as soon as we get a new house I'll sell
the current one then I'll sleep easy
again and my kids won't have to live
with
debt that's why the house has to be
finished as soon as
possible the women know this work
requires perseverance and the next
attack could destroy it all
again we know the war could last several
more
years if we have to rebuild everything
again we'll do it we know how to do it
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[Applause]
now
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time to say farewell to Grandma najja at
least for a few days the team plans to
return to this their home away from home
next
weekend thank
you
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living in war is hard and no matter how
loud the music plays death and
destruction are never far
away but that won't stop the team from
helping their friends in The Villages
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[Applause]
rebuild