Themes by tag: children

Zakhar Chernykov had not yet turned two years old when Russia first attacked Ukraine East. His family moved from Donetsk to Nikopol in the Dnipro region, and when Russia launched its full-blown invasion, Zakhar’s mother, Tetiana Chernykova, and her husband moved to Ivano-Frankivsk, where they still reside.

When in the new city, the parents found out that Zakhar had vision problems. Doctors advised the boy to avoid eye strain. Tetiana found some children’s audiobooks for her son, but Zakhar disliked them as they were narrated by adult voice actors. So the mother suggested the boy try himself as a child narrator.

Later, they started a telegram channel where the schoolboy publishes his recordings and invites people to donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He reads several chapters every night, Zakhar has already read voiceovers for 12 books. In addition, he recently created a blog on social media to challenge stereotypes that children and adults from the East of Ukraine can’t speak Ukrainian. On the blog, he also helps those who want to switch to Ukrainian.

• children
• Ivano-Frankivsk

70-year-old Olha is a teacher who takes care of 5 adopted children. Her husband is severely ill.

The village in the Kherson region where the family lived was occupied by Russia since the beginning of its full-scale invasion. The woman was living in fear of enemy military might separate her from her children, as her daughter and sons were adoptees. They managed to flee life under occupation only on the third attempt.

Now the family lives in a rented apartment. However, Olha’s brother helped them buy a plot of land in the Kyiv region. Dobrobat volunteers assisted in constructing new housing for the family. It will be a one-story eco-house made of wood. They will start building it with the onset of warm weather.

For reference: “Dobrobat” is a volunteer building division helping those affected to restore housing and social infrastructure in the de-occupied territories.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Kyiv

The Family Art Retreat Project will be held in Lviv from January 6 to 12. Its development process was influenced by the input of experienced professionals from Ukraine and the UK in order to allow children and adults to try their hand at different types of creativity and generate healing through art. 

The project involved 20 IDP children aged 9 to 16 and their families. Participation is free of charge.

The project includes using improv techniques for children, such as acting, music therapy, and dance and movement therapy. Training sessions, self-help lectures, and the use of art practices to support children are available for adults. The program will also include open lectures on psychotherapy and music therapy.

Among the project’s presenters is Nigel Osborne, a British composer, art therapist, and specialist in music and art therapies that positively benefit children traumatized by military conflicts.

For reference: The project is delivered by the “ART DOT” NGO (Kharkiv, Ukraine) in partnership with the Street Culture NGO with the financial support of the Razom Foundation and the “Culture Helps” program, which is implemented by Insha Osvita in cooperation with zusa with the EU support.

• casualties
• children
• culture
• psychological support
• Lviv

Olha Makovenko had worked as a teacher in Vasylkiv, Kyiv region, until she gave birth to her son Sviatoslav and went on maternity leave. Two years later, the boy was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). None of the kindergartens in her native Vasylkiv wanted to let Sviatoslav enroll, so Olha set about creating her own Center for Early Development. To do this, she underwent training with the support of “SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine” charitable foundation and received a state grant. The Center opened during the lockdown period.

The institution did not stop working even after the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion. Currently, many kids attending the Center are children of military personnel.

Olha also calls her Center a “studio of kindness” or a “studio of communication.” After all, the Center is the place for children to communicate with each other, learn that it is all right to make mistakes and correct them. Younger children are introduced to letters and numbers, and the older ones are introduced to writing and counting skills. There are also choreography, art, and football clubs for children.

• children

Volodymyr Sahaidak is the director of the Children’s Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation in Kherson Oblast. With the outbreak of a full-blown war and the occupation of the area, he and staff moved to the Center in their care for 52 orphans. According to Volodymyr, the occupiers tried to take the children from Ukraine to Russia under various pretexts, including allegedly being abducted to undergo “rehabilitation”. However, the staff of the institution hindered their plan’s progress. Volodymyr hid the orphans, leaving them in the care of different people: his relatives and the Center’s staff. Later, the children were secretly transferred to the territory controlled by Ukraine: a unique story was devised and even documents were forged to pass the enemy-controlled checkpoints. 

Now the Children’s Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation building has been empty, all the children have been successfully evacuated. Most of them are either with extended families or in foster care willing to provide support for them.

Volodymyr Sahaidak lives in the Kherson region and is ready to talk to the news media representatives, both offline and online.

• children
• occupation
• Kherson

On December 21, in Kyiv, Ukrposhta and UNICEF will present behind-the-scenes footage of “Wonder Action” amazing workshop and officially open it to everyone. Visitors will be able to “take a peek” at elves tirelessly packing children’s letters; listen to what the little “Wonder Actors” wished in their letters to other children; put bags with children’s letters into Ukrposhta’s Christmas car.

As reported on December 1, the “Wonder Action” initiative was launched. As a part of the project each child had the opportunity to write an uplifting letter to another child – to create a miracle. Starting tomorrow, the first of 40,000 envelopes will be distributed throughout the country.

The event requires accreditation.

• children
• Kyiv

The Dobrodiy Club Charitable Foundation invites news publishers to the opening ceremony of the ‘Place of Power’ free space that supports war-affected children and teenagers. The event will take place in Kyiv on December 21.

The space is a 240 m², three-story facility with a shelter. There are separate creativity zones, lectures and training, counseling, and interaction with a psychologist (for a child to learn to work through stress and transitions, communicate in a community, and develop resilience mechanisms). Place of Power space is committed to open its doors to 75,000 teenagers annually. 

The event will feature “(Already) adult discussion: What keeps your mentality alive?” – a dialogue with Ukrainian teenagers, and “My Identity” art collage workshop. 

The first visitors to the space will share their own stories of finding support and encouragement, as well as advice and life hacks for their peers.

Prior event accreditation is required. 

• children
• psychological support
• Kyiv

Chujo Hideto is a 42-year-old businessman from Japan. He came to Ukraine in the spring of 2022 and has been volunteering ever since. In particular, in Dnipro, Chudjo contributed financially to the creation of a shelter for forcibly displaced persons. The Japanese man lives in this facility, and helps adults and children staying there.

The volunteer also took part in rescue operations in Kherson region after the occupiers blew up the Kakhovka HPP dam. And recently he bought power generators, power banks and boats for the local rescuers.

Chujo is the founder of the “Smile” charitable foundation, which supports children traumatized by the war. Wearing a Pikachu outfit, the Japanese man gives positive emotions to children and brings them gifts.

Journalists have the opportunity to talk to the volunteer (online or in person). Chujo Hideto does not speak English, he communicates with the help of translation software.

• casualties
• children
• volunteers
• Dnipro

The ShchukaRyba band, DJ Chocollab, and children will host a charity concert featuring Ukrainian traditional songs and Christmas Carols in Kyiv on December 14. 

All funds raised will be used to provide psychological assistance to children affected by the war. The concert will showcase compositions created by teenagers in collaboration with the musicians.

This charitable event will serve as the culmination of the “Sound Lab” course conducted by the “Voices of Children” Foundation for teenagers. For several months, 15 teenagers from different regions, each with different war experiences, participated in a course covering traditional singing and electronic music, led by the folk group “ShchukaRyba” and DJ Chocollab. Together with the foundation’s psychologist, the children used music to live through their war experiences, traumatic memories, emotions, and feelings. Music can have a powerful therapeutic effect during times of war. 

• casualties
• children
• psychological support
• Kyiv

Andrii Maksymchuk mobilized on the second day of the full-scale Russian invasion. A military unit, where the soldier served as a member, was the first to begin a push to regain territory of the Chornobyl zone during the liberation of the Kyiv region. Later, he took part in the operations at the country’s embattled east in the Izium and Bakhmut directions, and now he fights in the Zaporizha direction.

Andrii wrote a children’s poem in his spare time. He dedicated the lines written in the trenches to his young sons. The youngest of them, Myroslav, is fond of dragons and magical creatures and asked his father to create a book about them. The work on the poem lasted 7 months, in between battles. Andrii completed the work in the Izium region and titled it “Traveling in Ukraine and the Magic Dragon”. Andrii’s comrades-in-arms were the first to read the children’s book, and his friends helped with illustrations and raising funds for the first thousand copies.

Today, they have managed to sell 3000 copies of the book, all the proceeds will be directed to support the 132nd separate reconnaissance battalion of the airborne assault troops, where Andrii Maksymchuk serves. The money has already been used to buy drones, and armor and cover military medical care needs. 

• children
• culture
• military