We eat from one plate to dirty fewer dishes

КА: Katya Alexander

АП: Anna Pavlenko

КА: Please tell me, when did you lose water? How did this happen? Where did it all start?

АП: I actually wanted to check what date this was right before the interview, just a second, I'll open the calendar and get oriented. Probably around the 28th or 29th, I don't remember exactly if it was Saturday or Sunday. First they turned off our electricity, said that high-voltage power lines were cut. Accordingly, since there's no electricity, there's no water either, because the pumping stations can't work. The next day they turned the electricity back on, everyone thought the water would come back too, but the water never came back. Then it turned out that in Sloviansk they bombed the pumping station - there are ongoing battles there, shelling all this time. So there probably won't be water anytime soon, it's been since the 28th, ten days now, more than a week, no water. At first they said they would give it back, promised they would repair everything, but then they realized that with constant shelling, naturally, no one wants to risk people's lives. And people themselves don't really want to risk their lives just to connect water. Regarding water, what's happening with us is... maybe I'm answering questions too early?

КА: No, finish what you're saying, then I'll ask clarifying questions.

АП: Regarding water, we now have different services that deliver water: fire trucks bring water, trucks bring... we had a company called Veska, which was involved in clay extraction, they had a well on the company's territory. The water there is quite good, because there was a well with filters, you can drink it. The only thing is, now they don't always transport it in trucks that are intended for drinking water. Accordingly, if the truck is for technical water, if there was technical water there before, no one will drink this water anymore. But, for example, the water that Veska brings, this company, it's clean, white, transparent. What came last time, we collected from the fire truck, it was like, yellowish. I don't know where they got it from, I didn't ask. And other municipal utility services also handle water delivery.

КА: How often do they bring water to the city?

АП: Water is delivered daily to different districts. The only thing is that, for example, one day the truck stopped right near our house, it was convenient for us to collect water. Another day it stopped near another house, accordingly, we had to carry water about 300 meters to the entrance. What I know is that people walk when possible, if they bring water somewhere else not too far in the district, then, if people need water, those who have small children, those who have high water consumption, they go somewhere else far to collect water.

КА: But you don't go there?

АП: No. We use water more economically. Plus, I was very lucky that my godmother lives in a private sector, and they had a well with water. We go, or rather drive to take showers at her place. So we need water to a lesser extent.

КА: So, you drive to wash at your godmother's, and you collect water for such household purposes?

АП: Well yes, for some such needs, to wash hands, wash face, for the toilet, to have something to flush with. We collect drinking water, we drive to a well to acquaintances, they have drinking water in their well, and sometimes it happens that one of our friends drives somewhere to collect drinking water and we also give them bottles. We help each other, because we also have problems with fuel. We have very little gasoline, it's very hard to get, there are huge queues at gas stations. We try to somehow save fuel.

КА: They bring you this water daily. Are there any queues? In Mykolaiv, I remember, they told that there were hour-long queues for water. Or is there enough so that everyone gets it quite quickly?

АП: There are always queues. It works out for us like this, we're involved in community work, we distribute humanitarian aid, and people who are near us... I have an office, and I live in the neighboring house. Accordingly, all the people who are nearby, they all know us. Someone calls us, says: "We're first here. We saved a place in line for you. Come, collect water." Last time I went out to collect water, a fire truck arrived. Naturally, I didn't ask to go ahead, I said: "Who's last?", and there was already a queue of about 20 people. People told me: "Girl, you work here, you help us, you distribute humanitarian aid. Let you go without waiting in line." But in general the queues are huge. I have a photograph, I photographed the fire truck last time. I can send it.

КА: That would be great. And you, as a person who deals with humanitarian aid, they let you skip the queue. Who else do they let through? Maybe elderly people or women with children?

АП: I think, unfortunately, that this will be more difficult, because only elderly people remained in the city. Regarding women with children, I don't know, I haven't had to stand in line. Generally most often my boyfriend collects water. I literally collected water a couple of times. And even then he came and took it anyway, so I wouldn't have to carry something heavy. Otherwise, people mostly stand in line. There are men, many women, because men are somewhere trying to somehow earn money, there are also problems with work now. Then anyway many of our men were taken into the army, men went to serve. So everything somehow happens like this. And these queues mainly consist of women and elderly people.

КА: How much water do you collect when the fire truck arrives?

АП: Last time we collected two 20-liter containers and a 10-liter bucket. 50 liters.

КА: Is that enough for a day?

АП: I think it's enough, even fifty liters, we still have some water left.

КА: Are there two of you?

АП: Yes.

КА: You said that you drive to your godmother's to wash. Do you drive there every day?

АП: No, we don't drive there every day, because it's also a distance and there's a lot of work, but we try once every few days to wash completely, and on other days we heat a little water and satisfy the most necessary needs, let's say.

КА: So, to wash your hair, to wash properly you drive to her several times a week, and at home you have an express shower from what you collected from the firefighters?

АП: Yes, yes. For me, 10 liters of water is enough to wash.

КА: This is for the express shower?

АП: Yes, for the express shower. I just heat the water, pour it into a basin and wash myself.

КА: But you don't have gas. How do you heat water?

АП: I heat it in an electric kettle. Electricity, thank God, is still there. Plus, many people bought electric stoves. Our city was basically completely gasified, we had gas stoves everywhere. And in the private sector practically everyone had gas stoves, and in multi-story buildings there was gas everywhere. We didn't buy an electric stove, but it turned out that our friend had an old one in the garage, and he gave it to us, since he bought himself a new one. A single-burner one wasn't enough for him, since he has a family, but for the two of us it was basically sufficient to cook food.

КА: Since there's been no water, more than a week has passed. Do you have any rules for how to conserve water? For example, not getting dishes too dirty?

АП: Yes. My boyfriend and I now eat from one plate, so we dirty fewer dishes. What else? From the rules, if we went to the toilet to pee, we try to use less, for example, I go to the toilet, Sergey asks: "Are you going to the toilet?", I say yes, he says I want to go too, so don't flush. We both went to the toilet, then we flush.

КА: How difficult it is - to rethink how to live.

АП: Yes, it's difficult sometimes, but you probably get used to everything. It seems to me, the scariest thing right now is if they turn off electricity too. Then it will be completely unbearable, because you can't even go to your godmother's for a shower, because their well also works on electricity, and you can't cook food, only on a fire.

КА: Did they have the well before the start of the full-scale invasion?

АП: Yes. They have their own house, they have a garden. And in order to water the garden and take care of the territory more economically, they made a well, water comes out cheaper. They made the well, since there was still a water pipe, there's only technical water there. For drinking water they drive somewhere, so they can cook food, drink.

КА: Let's say, if they brought semi-technical water in such cisterns, in which they didn't transport clean water before, do you divide them somehow? Let's say, you leave this water for the toilet, for shower, for washing dishes and go get drinking water? Or do you boil some part, and leave some for technical needs?

АП: No, there hasn't been such a situation yet. Anyway there wasn't an acute problem with drinking water. We have many five-liter bottles, with which we go collect water. They last us quite a long time. We collect about 50 liters of drinking water, it lasts us for 3-4 days.

КА: And where do you go again for drinking water?

АП: To friends who have a drinking well. That's one option. And the second option: when our friends drive by, they take our bottles, and they have a well with drinking water there. There are filters there, accordingly, you can drink the water.

КА: What did you have to give up?

АП: We had to give up, actually, making soups and liquid food. We drink tea and coffee, but with soups... We try to cook something, boil some grain, so that first of all, we dirty fewer dishes, and, secondly, liquid food is harder to cook, because there you need to wash vegetables, wash everything separately, cook, cut. A lot of dishes get dirty.

КА: So, to save water on washing dishes, you cook so that you need less washing of vegetables too?

АП: Vegetables yes, products and dishes.

КА: Are there any other features of life without water that I didn't ask you about, but you would like to tell about?

АП: From features: yesterday we went to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on business. I realized that if before I loved to take showers twice a day, I always went to shower in the morning and evening, this was regular. Then yesterday I noticed that in a week this habit of mine disappeared somewhere, I no longer saw the need to shower twice. My boyfriend noticed this, he says: "Anya, why aren't you going to shower...". When we arrived, I went and washed, and then in the evening he asks: "Are you going to shower before bed?". I say: "No, I don't want to. I already washed, that's enough for me."

КА: Good that you maintain your sense of humor in this situation.

АП: Actually, if we didn't maintain our sense of humor, then probably we would have all fallen into depression long ago, it would be very difficult. We constantly joke, laugh with our team, which is involved in distributing humanitarian aid. People come and say: "Oh, you have it so good here, so cheerful, but at our homes everything is so bad, depressing." I understand that if it were otherwise, we wouldn't have enough strength to do what we do.

КА: Do you somehow limit yourself and your boyfriend in drinking water consumption? For example, strictly one liter per person per day or something like that.

АП: No, we don't have that yet, fortunately. Due to the fact that there's an opportunity to get water. Yes, it's not easy, but there is drinking water. There are no restrictions, because in our city everything is still quite peaceful, sometimes there are strikes, these aren't even shelling. We're still far from that line of contact where shelling happens frequently. Only some big rockets fly to us. This happens once a week, sometimes more often, but these are isolated cases. Because of this we can calmly move around the city and go collect as much water as we need and not limit ourselves in drinking water. I, honestly speaking, can't imagine, I think all the time about how people live in those cities that are under shelling, where they don't have the opportunity to even collect water, because there's constant shelling. Water seems to be there, and some springs, and wells, but there's no opportunity to get there because of shelling. That, of course, is very scary.

КА: And Veska continues to work normally?

АП: No, the company doesn't work. The company evacuated, evacuated equipment, people are now without work, but apparently they use some employees who possibly were involved in some water delivery before. They use these employees, these people deliver water, but these are isolated cases. Otherwise we generally have one volunteer guy who came to us, he actually worked at this company. Now the company doesn't work, they are all either on vacation, someone quit, left for another part of the country, so there would be an opportunity to work there, because payment also either remained at a small percentage, or there isn't any at all. Like a person is listed at work, but he's not working. Accordingly, he's either on some unpaid vacation, those who had accumulated vacations, they gave them vacation, paid for it. Otherwise generally it's very difficult with work. Very many remained without work.

КА: And you, as an organizer of volunteer aid, can you say how elderly or bedridden people or people with some limitations cope with such a difficult water situation? Is water delivery organized for them?

АП: You know, we even had very problematic delivery organized with food aid. There is city administration, they don't really deal with this much. Either they don't have enough people, or something else. But I know that there is definitely one girl volunteer who brings products, she took very many elderly people under her care. She comes to us, takes some food packages, takes food packages from other humanitarian headquarters too and brings them to grandmothers and grandfathers. We have applications filled out through the internet, children of these elderly people can also fill them out, if the children left. We also try to organize food delivery when possible. Somewhere once a week, it varies, but we serve about 30 people, bring them products.

КА: And water?

АП: And with water now... Honestly speaking, I've been so absorbed in my work lately that I didn't even ask how this works for them. Most likely, from what we have in the district, neighbors help, carry, bring. We have very many from the humanitarian aid that we distributed, neighbors filled out applications for these non-walking grandmothers and grandfathers and then came, took aid with their documents and carried it to them.

КА: This is very much about solidarity, it's very great that this exists.

АП: Yes, actually, when the war started, very many of our people united, started helping each other. Young people started somehow acting more actively, and started worrying, [helping] these elderly people who don't leave home.

КА: Anna, tell me, about the situation with water and gas, is there anything else you'd like to add?

АП: Yes, probably not. The main thing is that they don't turn off electricity, because we'll have to cook on fires.

КА: And heat water too.

АП: I don't know how to heat water on a fire, honestly. When for one day they turned off our electricity and there was no water, we cooked food on a fire. Good thing we had a grill.

КА: And that day you probably didn't heat water for showering.

АП: Yes. We didn't even have the opportunity to make tea. I remember, in the evening, when we were sitting with Sergey, and we said: "Damn, we can't drink tea." This was really sad. We weren't ready yet to heat water on a fire. We didn't have any devices for this. Of course, if this had continued further, we would have found something to heat water in and how, but that day we weren't ready yet.

КА: Anna, thank you very much. If I have any additions, may I write to you?

АП: Yes, of course.

КА: Thank you very much. And please send, if possible, any photographs you have. Even if it's a fire truck or bottles, we'll see what to take from this.

АП: Yes, of course.

КА: Thank you very much. Good luck to you.

АП: Goodbye!