Garden of Eden in Stanytsia Luhanska

Almost 70 years old, Yevgeniya, a gynaecologist at Stanytsia Luhanska Hospital, has seen and experienced more than her fair share of the ups and downs of life, especially over the past five years.

While fighting has displaced many people, many others remain in the town, reliant on Yevgeniya and the essential medical care she and others at the hospital provide.

When SMM monitoring officers visited her recently, she recalled the maternity unit – now closed – where she and five other doctors not only saved lives but also helped to deliver lives. “My heart used to be filled with joy,” she said, “at the sight of a healthy mother and her new-born.”

Much has changed since then with intense fighting at the initial stage of the conflict forcing the closure of the maternity unit. With shelling and gunfire ringing out in the near distance, expectant mothers were afraid to stay overnight at the hospital, and even some of the doctors resigned their posts.

With Luhansk city – just 16 kilometres away – no longer a feasible option for expectant mothers because of time-consuming crossing procedures and precarious conditions on the nearby contact line, the closest accessible maternity unit is now in Bilovodsk, some 70 kilometres north along a bumpy road. “This is particularly concerning for women who face serious complications during pregnancy and delivery,” Yevgeniya explains. “With conflict-related stress, such cases are frequent.”

Yevgeniya, like hundreds of thousands of others all along the contact line in eastern Ukraine, is herself not immune to the daily stress of living and working in an area affected by conflict. In addition to the risks posed by mines, unexploded ordnance and continued fighting, she, like thousands of others, many elderly, must cross the broken bridge at Stanytsia Luhanska – the only crossing point in the entire Luhansk region – if she wants to visit friends and relatives in the nearest city. A regular work routine, combined with a passion for gardening, allow Yevgeniya to maintain inner sanity. “My Garden of Eden is 1,800 square metres,” she says, referring to her garden where she grows vegetables and flowers.

Grounded in reality and so close to the cycle of life, Yevgeniya exudes optimism and hope. Her example has inspired her granddaughter, who is just about to graduate, to become a gynaecologist. She hopes that one day the maternity unit will reopen, allowing for new beginnings in peace and safety. “The health and wellbeing of all mothers will come with peace,” she says, “and the flowers in my Garden of Eden will bloom once again.”