Masha Shumatskaya’s family embraced the revival of Jewish life in Donetsk after decades of Communist suppression. She attended Jewish school, learned Hebrew and thrived in a JDC leadership program for young Jews.

 

But amid ongoing conflict and chronic unemployment, she and her mother were forced to leave everything behind. Displaced and disoriented, they depended on JDC for food packages and financial help for months to get back on their feet and build a new home in Kharkov.