Andriy Holumbiyevskyy knows all too well the horrors of war - the Ukrainian-born Albury man's family heard the bombs exploding in his hometown of Chernihiv in February when the conflict erupted.
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On Thursday, he and two friends will hike from Bonegilla in north east Victoria to scale Mt Kosciuszko in a fundraising bid to ease the pain by helping rebuild his shattered community.
It's a long hike from the Bonegilla Migrant Centre to the summit, but it was a longer trek for Mr Holumbiyevskyy's parents who made the perilous journey from Chernihiv, over the border to Poland, then on to Albury in March to escape the Ukrainian conflict.
Mr Holumbiyevskyy, 42, an Albury construction worker with Krautz and Summerill builders, is making the 200-kilometre hike from Bonegilla to the summit in a bid to help rebuild the devastated lives of his family and his country folk.
He lives with his parents in Glenroy who say they want to return to Ukraine eventually to reclaim their property and hope to recover some lost items.
"A lot of people have lost everything - they're walking around with their life's possessions - my parents were lucky in that got out of there alive but they have still lost a lot," he said.
His companions - Scottish born Mark Lloyd Riddell and Australian Michael Jessup - are marching by his side to support his quest.
Chernihiv survived the cluster bomb attacks on February 24, but only just, and is now a shattered community of burnt out buildings with people living in tents, chicken coops and livestock stables.
"The idea behind my trek to Kosciuszko is to engage one community - Albury - and other Australians to help to rebuild another community in Ukraine which has been absolutely devastated by the assault on Ukraine," he said.
"We're doing this to help make the upcoming winter a bit easier - this winter is forecast to be one of the hardest in the history of the city.
"You can't help all Ukrainians with one project - we're providing materials for people to rebuild their homes. Building supplies are hard to get hold of in Ukraine."
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Mr Riddell, 55, said he sympathised with people struggling with the hardships of ltrying to survive in a war zone.
"It's like a community helping another community to rebuild - a lot of people there have received food and clothing in that place - but we're getting together to help rebuild over 500 houses.
"As much as we're highlighting atrocities, we're helping to rebuild a specific community."
Mr Jessup, 37, said he was just supporting a mate and a good cause.
"I'm an Aussie and that's what Aussies do - lend a mate a helping hand," he said.
