"Each morning I barely find strength and courage to face the day."

Tetyana, 41, and her four children, aged four to 16, live in a village in western Ukraine. They settled here in 2015 after fleeing the conflict in the east. But this year, tragedy struck their family, as it has for so many Ukrainians.

"It was just an ordinary day," Tetyana said. "My husband Dmytro went to work at a local car wash as usual. His last phone call was about buying vegetables to make canned preserved food.

"The next phone call I got was from the military police. They told me a missile had hit the carwash and they needed me to come. Suddenly I found myself on the floor, with my daughter kneeling beside me, asking if I was okay."

For the next 44 days, Dmytro fought for his life in hospital.

"His condition kept getting worse. In his last days he was motionless. I was desperately looking for a sign he would improve, at least a move of the finger. But then he died ... "

Dmytro passed away in August to the great grief by all his family.

His little boy, four-year-old Sasha, had a very special bond with his dad as the baby of the family, and is mourning in his own unique way.

"Sometimes he acts as though his father is still here. He'll sometimes ask the others to be quiet because father is sleeping. Recently he took out the hammer and nails, just as his dad would have done, and played that he was fixing something," Tetyana said. "We all miss Dmytro very much
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"Even in this despair, I find comfort in God's presence. When my mind is speechless, my heart rests in God's merciful presence."

Tetyana and her family had already become displaced once, when they fled the conflict in the east and settled in the west.

"Unfortunately, we didn't run far enough away from the war," she said. "In 2014, we escaped from our town in Lugansk region in the east of Ukraine when the Russian army came there, destroying and killing.

"We found shelter and support here, in western Ukraine. I often think that if we had moved to Poland as refugees at the beginning of war, Dmytro would still be alive. I feel broken."

As refugees from the east, they were enrolled on Mission Without Borders' (MWB) family sponsorship programme and began receiving regular material help, as well as emotional and spiritual support. MWB staff member Olexandr regularly visited Tetyana, Dmytro and their children. He was there for the family when Dmytro was injured, and he was there when Dmytro died.

The family struggled with poverty before they lost Dmytro - and he was the only breadwinner. In the deep cold of Ukrainian winter, the family needs our support more than ever.

"Please pray for us. The future scares me. Still, I have a purpose to live for and a reason to fight: my children. Mission Without Borders has been supporting us a lot with many needed items, including food, medicine, hygiene items, clothing, footwear and furniture. I count all of our blessings carefully- we are so thankful to those who sponsor this work," Tetyana said.

As the war that killed Dmytro continues to devastate Ukraine many families like Tetyana's face with an empty chair at the table,

£15 will enable us to deliver 1 essential emergency parcel of food with items such as pasta, rice, tinned meat and vegetables. A gift of £30 will enable us to deliver 2 parcels, the second with hygiene items such as soap, washing powder and toothpaste..

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