Last February, it seemed like every store in Donetsk was closed. It was nearly impossible to buy anything. And prices to buy what little food and supplies were left were outrageous.

 

Galina Fokina, 66, felt like she was barely hanging on. Thoughts of leaving Ukraine and making aliyah crossed her mind.

 

Then, things got worse: her beloved husband passed away. Devastated, she knew it was time to leave.

 

Galina, her daughter Victoria and Victoria’s family fled to the Mayak Center, a temporary housing complex near Dnepropetrovsk for internally displaced people run by The Jewish Agency for Israel.  Now, they’re preparing for their next journey: to Israel.

 

Galina’s not sure what awaits them there. But she has hope, she says: “To have life with opportunity is to live.”