The First Year

After what was originally a three week trip helping refugees escape the war, Alina, a Ukrainian hospitality photographer living in California, ended up staying in Ukraine for almost a year. Being deeply moved by everything she saw at the Polish/Ukrainian border and in Ukraine, she began using the art of photography to document the war. She posted the photos to Instagram and her photo journalism moved her followers to donate. Alina used every dollar collected through photography to fund humanitarian projects in Ukraine. These funds brought food, water, medicine, and supplies to de-occupied areas, and founded a clinic in Eastern Ukraine that was operating for over 3 months. Tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers received aid in some of the harshest zones in Ukraine.