Diana Maksymenko has lost her home twice due to war. However, she has never stopped dreaming. In the thick of the Russian full-scale invasion she opened her new coffee shop of which she had been dreaming since her childhood. Her dream came true in the town of Teplyk which is located in Vinnytsia province. This is one of many towns that have become part of her itinerary caused by the war.
In search of home
The story with her coffee shop began well before 2022. In her childhood, Diana (a native of the city of Avdiivka) was dreaming of this. She wanted to open a confectionery as she enjoyed baking cakes and cookies. She managed to fulfill her dream years later during the full-scale invasion. Before this, Diana and her family had had to lose home several times, relocating and starting everything from scratch.
When the war broke out in 2014, Diana was still a student at school. She left her native town. It was in the beginning of May. At that time she was taking singing lessons and on 9 she was supposed to perform at a concert. Instead, her parents packed her suitcases and they evacuated sad Diana from town. That was how her long journey of searching and wandering began.
«When we first left our home back in 2014 I realized that one has to live their life right here right now. The war is raging on and nobody knows what’s going to happen. If you waste your time sitting idly by, you can spend half of your life doing this», says Diana.
Her family moved to a summer house, however, it could hardly be called the safest place on earth. It was located in the town of Vodyane, close to the Donetsk airport. In hindsight, we know what happened to that place, but back then the family was searching for their own home. That summer house was her mother’s dream, who was brought up in that neighborhood and wanted to have her own house there. Before the war, Diana’s dad fulfilled that dream by purchasing a summer house. Nevertheless, they didn’t get to spend much time there.
So the family found a third home which was another summer house in the town of Shchurove, situated close to Kramatorsk. Diana’s younger sister suffers from an allergy and the environment surrounding the house would alleviate her state. The family settled down there.
Diana went to school in Lyman and Kramatorsk. She finished school in Kyiv. The family moved to the Ukrainian capital having spent 4 years in Shchurove. NKF Diana enrolled at the Kyiv Trade and Economic University. However, she attended classes for only a few months. After quarantine limitations were imposed in 2020 the family moved back to Shchurove. The girl began studying remotely. She is now taking correspondence courses at the University.
Her love for Shchurove and their summerhouse did not come to Diana instantaneously. At first, she was quite reluctant to live there since there was neither school, nor a kindergarten, nor any entertainment opportunities. The town was mostly inhabited by the elderly who spent their summers there. Nonetheless, with time she became attached to the house and she now has fond memories of the time, which is why her moving to Kyiv was not easy.
Diana’s grandparents moved back to the town of Avdiivka in 2015. At the beginning of March 2020 Diana’s parents persuaded her grandparents to move at least to Shchurove. When things became really dangerous there they took them to Teplyk (a small urban-type settlement in Central Ukraine — translator’s note).
«Family photo albums were dear to me and we took them from Avdiivka to the summerhouse. When its windows were smashed, we asked our neighbor to send us the albums, which he did. These albums are memories to me. I cannot find them anywhere else.»
Uniting and building a new life
Teplyk is a small town with around 6 thousand inhabitants. With the beginning of the war a lot of internally displaced persons came to Teplyk. In March local residents could no longer recognize their own town. Diana says that by the end of February three or four kids were born into the families of those who had abandoned their homes and settled down in this town.
Her family moved to the relatives of Diana’s boyfriend. It was safer in Central Ukraine than in the capital. Her family grew weary of frequent relocations. When packing her suitcase on February 24, Diana’s mother said she no longer wanted to move anywhere. The family spent a few months in Teplyk. Because of these locations Diana sank into apathy. She would constantly scroll down her newsfeed, without taking interest in life outside or willing to go back home. Her dad and boyfriend were trying to persuade her to go abroad together with her mom and sister.
Diana refused, saying that she wanted to stay with our family. Together with her boyfriend she decided to launch her own business using their savings. They found a place to rent and set about renovating it to open a coffee shop. In doing so they found strength to get away from daily news. In the middle of May they began actively working on the renovation.
«We engaged lots of locals in our undertaking. The times are hard, people need money, so we offered them an opportunity to make some», says Diana.
She also employed locals to work in the coffee shop. Currently, two male baristas and a girl making desserts are working there. Diana orders macaroons in Vinnytsia and the local bread factory produces pastry tubes filled with cream specially for Milk&Honey.
As for the interior design, bright drawings and inscriptions were performed by a local artist who was recommended to Diana. Her paintings are sold in the coffee shop, part of the proceeds are donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Diana’s family have also helped the Ukrainian army by making light fixtures out of milk bottles and chandeliers out of flowerpots.
«Some people find it difficult to remember the name Milk&Honey, so they call us «The coffee shop under the lindens». Since there are lots of these trees growing nearby», says Diana.
However, she does see changes that have taken place in Teplyk. She says that her coffee shop has regular guests visiting it every day. Her team speaks to every visitor, which creates a nice atmosphere there. Diana has noticed that the shop attracts lots of youths. Its atmosphere is being maintained by youngsters playing the guitar and singing in the evenings.
There are lemonades, milk shakes, original drinks, cheesecakes and macaroons on the menu. Diana says that the latter are quite delectable and in demand. There is also a stand with sweets, but parents insist on having it removed since their kids keep pestering them to buy something from the stand.
«Before there was no place people could go to as a family. Now they have such a place. I like it when locals are playing board games while someone comes to work on their laptops here», says Diana.
Fireplace, painting and a new dream
In August her family moved back to Kyiv. Diana shares her time between Kyiv and Teplyk taking care of her business. She has many plans, in particular, for her coffee shop. Next year Diana is planning to extend the summer terrace, install poufs and a projector so that locals could come and watch movies. She also intends to open a place in the neighboring town of Haisyn. Diana dreams of developing small towns so that people could spend their time in a different way.
The coffee shop in Teplyk is not Diana’s first business. Before, her family and she had opened a shop in Kyiv which they were forced to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the war in 2022, Diana and her boyfriend opened a shop selling gadgets and accessories in Kramatorsk. It had existed for only 2 weeks before the war broke out.
In Teplyk Diana learnt that her summerhouse in Shchurove had been destroyed by Russians.
«I don’t know where my home is any more. I love Donetsk province. I was hoping my summerhouse would remain intact and we would be able to visit it. After I received photos of it a few months ago (the house was completely demolished), I spent three days lying in bed. I did not want to eat, drink or simply get up. But I had to move on. Life goes on».
Vodine was also under Russian occupation. It has been liberated by the Ukrainian army. Only ashes were to be seen on the site of Diana’s summerhouse there.
«I feel rather sorry for the summerhouse than for my business. This was the place for my soul. My dad told me he would never go back there. Unlike him, I have a big dream — I want to keep working and developing so that I can rebuild my parents‘ house», says Diana.
It is this dream that motivates Diana to move on. It is surely impossible to have everything rebuilt just as it used to be. However, it is not the house that Diana finds important. These are small things that her family had been bringing to that summerhouse from different places and the memories connected with them. The fireplace, the family’s tradition of decorating the Christmas tree, the painting featuring horses that her sister made. Diana loves horses.
This cannot be reproduced, but it can be built anew.
