‘Since the beginning of the war, we had not seen any vegetables or meat, not red or white meat, not a piece of chicken or beef. I had not had a cucumber or a tomato for six months, my children had not even had a piece of fruit. Neither myself nor my husband has been able to work since October, so we have not received any salary. What little savings we had was spent on overpriced flour – which was not normal white flour but often ground up animal feed – to try and feed our three little girls.

‘In April, things started to look like they were going to get better, we could see more food trucks arriving at the markets. Fresh fruit and vegetables were arriving, with what little was left of our savings we scraped together what little we had to buy small amounts of food, but it was not enough to end the months of hunger we had endured.

‘When YVS turned up at the home we now share with 45 relatives with bags of fresh food, we were overjoyed. Can you imagine being overjoyed to see a cucumber? It was it was like a dream come true. For the first time in months, I was able to put my girls to bed with almost full stomachs, even though it was just for a few days, that feeling will never leave me.’

*Name has been changed to allow for anonymity