Comments Off on Photovoice Project: Meet Hanna
Our Photovoice project draws from a participatory research method that uses photography and stories. Our aim is to provide a platform for our community to voice their lived experiences around food access. Hanna is a North York Harvest Food Bank client who agreed to share her story.
By Hanna Subbota,
Submitted April, 2024
I am Hanna Subbota, and my daughter is Diana. We are Ukrainians, from a city in the Dnepropetrovsk region. I graduated from Zaporizhzhya
University, where I studied medicine and worked as a nurse for five years before I became a chemistry and biology teacher for 18 years – and then I had to leave Ukraine.
It is so sad what is happening in my hometown. Our city continues to be shelled every day. It is not safe anywhere.
My 17-year-old daughter and I left the city of Nikopol on March 7, 2022, at the beginning of the war because in front of us is Energodar (by water, 8 kilometres away) and the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which was captured by our enemies on March 4, 2022.
They started to scare us that the nuclear power plant would be blown up. If this happens, it will be worse than Chernobyl. A lot of people will die from radiation within a radius of 100-1000 kilometres.
We went through a difficult evacuation: We lived for 7 days in Poland on cots, 2 days in Germany, and then arrived in France, where we received a visa to Canada. We lived in France for almost 2 years, but over the last 3 months they stopped paying us assistance.
We began to accumulate debts, plus we borrowed money for tickets to Toronto, since our program (Assistance to Ukrainians) ends on March 31, 2024.
We received $4,500 to help the Ukrainians, but we paid $2,800 for two months rent for one room. We paid off debts, gave away the money we took from other people for tickets to Toronto – so there is no money left. I don’t have anything.
Right now, I have an urgent need to find housing. I am getting evicted in four weeks and it is very stressful – it is an emergency again for me and my family.
I have not found a job yet. I do not speak English well. But North York Harvest Food Bank came to the rescue.
Now every Wednesday, once every two weeks, I go to the food bank for the necessary products: canned food, cereals, sweets, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and hygiene products.
We began to receive the necessary products from which we prepare food: our favorite borscht, mashed potatoes, porridge, salad. I am hoping to take courses to improve my English by so I can work in Canada. But first, I need to be financially stable and find housing.
We are very grateful for the help of North York Harvest Food Bank and all the people who help us.
Thank you very much!!!
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