From the farm to the minefield
In brief
After war forced Vachislav and Natalia Nesterenko to flee their thriving family farm in Ukraine, they returned to find their home destroyed and their land littered with explosives. Now, with support from HALO and partners like Cargill, the couple is rebuilding—clearing landmines and reviving their fields, one seedling at a time.
Vachislav Nesterenko likes to be prepared. The 57-year-old from Kharkiv region studied physical education and worked for 20 years as a trainer. He then moved into grain-processing for the next 15 years. In both careers, he was driven by an innate sense of discipline, precision and consistency. But he's not one to shy away from change, when life requires it.
The land needs to be cleared. Crops need to be planted. I feel necessary for my country.
Vachislav and his wife, Natalia, have spent several years on a passion project. It quickly grew into a thriving business—a small, family farm in Mykolaivka village. “Every fruit and vegetable we grow here is so sweet,” says Natalia, a former school teacher. “Our customers used to say to us, ‘There is no other place where we can find such juicy tomatoes. And do you add sugar to your broccoli?’"
She attributes this to two things – first, her upbringing. Her father was an agronomist and he passed his knowledge and passion for working with the land on to her. And second, the soil itself. Their farm is spread over three plots all in close proximity, the first of which was her father’s original plot. “He chose this village because decades ago, it was a centralized location for stables,” she says. “So the soil is more fertile here than anywhere else.”
While Natalia and Vachislav’s business had been steadily on the rise, the war threw it, and their lives, into disarray. The couple had stayed put throughout the majority of the Russian occupation, but joined their son and his family in Germany in the final weeks. When they returned, they found their newly built home completely destroyed. The Russian army had been using it as a munitions depot, and they blew it up as they left. Adjacent to the house, their hazelnut orchard was zigzagged with tripwires.
Hazelnuts are one of Natalia’s favorite crops. They’re relatively low maintenance and high yield, but what’s more, they protect the other plants around them, she explains. Their root systems improve soil health and water retention. The irony that the very trees that protect the crops below them were used to string tripwire during the occupation is not lost on her.
Vachislav contacted a friend in the Ukrainian military, and after just a day of surveying the orchard, they found six tripwires attached to grenades. It was clear that there would be many more. As Vachislav tried to assess the damage and risk, he was scared. “It was very intense,” he says. “In my dreams, I was there in the field, blowing up.” But Vachislav is quick to move toward practical solutions, even in the face of such fear. The former trainer and agricultural specialist decided to join the HALO Trust as a deminer. “We needed the money,” he says, “but also, it felt directly useful. Demining is a lifestyle. You have to be precise.” This suits him perfectly.
While Vachislav is clearing landmines in nearby fields, Natalia is hard at work trying to revive the family business. She is faced with countless challenges, but takes them in stride. While HALO NTS teams have surveyed some of their land, not all the fields have been cleared yet. Between that, and the fact that there aren’t people around to hire, she has had to scale things down significantly. Walking through one of their plots, she points out, “We used to plant 30,000 chive seedlings a year. This year, it’s only 9000. And we didn’t plant any broccoli this year because the field where we grow it still needs to be surveyed.”
Her passion for farming has not waned though. Touring through her fields, she swoops down to fix a leaf here and a trellis there. “Look how beautiful is it,” she exclaims, “And you ask me why I came back? There is no place in the world with this much beauty!”
A few kilometers away, Vachislav is focused, in his element, in the middle of a minefield. “My favorite thing is when I have a properly prepared isolation,” he says, “and I get signal right in center of it.” When asked about his typical day as a deminer, he lists his tasks hour by hour. And he doesn’t stop with the end of his work day. “At 5:15pm, when I get home, my second shift begins,” he says. He’s out on their land, putting in irrigation lines, building greenhouses, and helping Natalia with whatever chores are left.
On both ends of his day, Vachislav is working with the land in a way that feels vital. “This work is necessary,” he says. “The land needs to be cleared. Crops need to be planted. I feel necessary for my country.” He adds, “Of course I would like to be playing volleyball or training, but the day will come for that too. I cannot plan for it. These days, we cannot plan and I have to make peace with that.”
