Themes by tag: Lviv

In 2015, Ksenia Kleinos opened a creative space in Berdiansk (the city is occupied now), Zaporizhia region — the anti-cafe “CHAS YE” (there is time). When russia’s full-scale invasion started, the woman was at home: at 4 AM she heard explosions. She decided to go to a village near Berdiansk, because she thought it was safer there. She lived in the village for 40 days and saw helicopters circling over the house. The woman decided to leave: she had to go through 16 russian checkpoints to get to Zaporizhia.

In April 2022, Ksenia moved to Lviv. She decided to open a coffee shop (in the summer she applied for a grant from the state). At the beginning of autumn, she launched the public project “We Are Berdiansk” to support other refugees from Berdiansk. Meanwhile, the answer came: Ksenia received the grant of UAH 240,000. Nowadays, Ksenia gathers people from Berdiansk in her cafe, where she holds, in particular, art master classes, and they also play board games there. The community even has its own reading club.

In addition, two landsmen of Ksenia work in her coffee shop, which the woman named in honor of an island in Berdiansk creek “Dzendzik.”

• casualties
• occupation
• women
• Lviv

Lerane Khaibulaieva is a Crimean Tatar who was born in Uzbekistan, where the soviet authorities deported her family from Crimea. Lerane returned to the peninsula as a child. And in 2016, after russia’s occupation of Crimea, she was forced to leave her home. She settled in Kyiv region. In 2022, she fled Irpin, which the russians were trying to assault at the time.

In Crimea, Lerane worked as a journalist covering economic topics. However, the woman always dreamed of creating a family cafe. She opened a small café serving chebureki in Kyiv region, and later a cafe in the suburbs of the capital. In Lviv, which became Lerane’s fourth home, she again returned to doing her favorite thing and founded Crimean Yard cafe.

Her own business helps the woman support her son, who is still in school, as well as her husband, a veteran who fought the anti-terrorist operation and defended Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. He is now back from the front line due to a disability. Lerane says that she dreams to move one more time – to Crimea, liberated from the russians.

• casualties
• food
• occupation
• women
• Lviv

When the full-scale war began, Anna Dovzhenko was in Lviv. The woman planned to return to her native Kharkiv as soon as it got safe there. However, the apartment of Anna’s family was partially destroyed by enemy shelling, so she had to rebuild her life in Lviv region. Anna became interested in quail breeding because she read that quail eggs supposedly help to cope with radiation poisoning. This information led her to starting her own business.

First, Anna and her family bought 200 quail eggs, from which her first birds hatched. Anna’s husband built quail cages with his own hands, set up water supply and ventilation systems. The woman says that when she’s near the quails her mood improves. Work helps Anna deal with anxiety as well as support the family financially. The entrepreneur has already managed to acquire  regular customers. She donates some of the eggs to other refugees, as well as to a family-type orphanage.

• women
• Lviv

On January 23, a virtual reality room will be opened in Lviv region. Its purpose is to assist with the rehabilitation of defenders with the help of the latest technologies. The room was created with the assistance of the charity fund “With an Angel on a Shoulder.”

The facility will conduct rehabilitation sessions utilizing VR helmets, with a particular focus on addressing phantom pains and enhancing the psycho-emotional well-being of individuals.

• casualties
• Lviv

On January 20, Lviv will host a presentation of the Pokrova Lviv AMP club soccer. Its players are Ukrainian war amputees. 

A team of 14 members has an athletic field training twice a week. The players on the pitch are lower-extremity amputees, and the goalkeepers are upper-extremity amputees. The field players use forearm crutches and play without prostheses.

During the event, the team will tell more about the team’s participation in this year’s international championship. The journalists can also talk to the players and coach Bohdan Melnyk.

• casualties
• military
• Lviv

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

Red Brunch Donor Day is organized by Yanina Sokolova’s Fund. The Fund’s team encourages Lviv residents and guests of the city to make a conscious decision to donate blood, in particular, during the full-scale war. After all, donating blood is one of the opportunities to save the lives of Ukrainian defenders.

For reference: Since 2019, Yanina Sokolova’s Fund has been changing people’s stereotypes about blood donation by holding Red Brunch events. Since the initiative started, 1,743 people have donated blood, which made it possible to save 5,229 lives.

• volunteers
• Lviv

“Community-Ridni” House was opened in Lviv. It is a unique space for orphans and children deprived of parental care. 20 students aged 16 to 23 will live there (including refugees). Teenagers will receive free, comfortable housing, they will receive help to get themselves ready for an independent life and fulfill their potential.

This place was created by the Children’s Service Department of the Lviv City Council together with “Ridni” Charity Fund. This is a municipal institution working in the format of a small group home with a special program that has no analogues in Ukraine.

“Community-Ridni” House will feature lessons on financial literacy and sessions with psychologists and coaches. There is a library, a study space and a gym. At this time, 5 students already live there. 13 specialists work with them, including social workers, psychologists, a doctor, a cook, an accountant, and a lawyer.

Journalists are welcome to learn more about the space and cover its operation.

• children
• Lviv

The news media representatives are welcome to attend the all-Ukrainian prosthetics training, which will take place at the Nezlamni Center in Lviv on December 6. The attendees will have an opportunity to film the process behind fabricating prostheses made by foreign specialists and interview them about their willingness to help Ukraine and the challenges our country faces in the field of prosthetics.

In order to train new specialists in prosthetics education and raise the overall level of those already working, the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center has launched a country-wide training program. Foreign specialists will visit Lviv to share their knowledge with prosthetists from all over Ukraine.

On December 4-7, the training will be conducted by specialists from Fillauer LLC, one of the world’s leading orthopedics and prosthetics companies. Participants from Kyiv, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Poltava, Zhytomyr, and Zaporizhia came to Lviv for the training. These are prosthetists ranging from 3 months to 23 years of experience. 

During the workshop, special attention is paid to the manufacturing process of upper-limb prosthetics. After all, one of the main tasks for prosthetists is to determine the optimal functional purpose of artificial hands in cooperation with doctors.

Three patients of the Center have already been measured, and got their artificial limbs being made for them, within the training framework. At the end of the four-day workshop, these patients will be fitted with prostheses.

For reference: This year, 15 thousand prostheses have been fitted in Ukraine at the expense of the state alone, and experts assume that at least as many have been fitted at charity. However, while the number of fitted lower limb prostheses is measured in thousands, the number of upper limb prostheses is in the hundreds. At the same time, 30% of amputations today are of the hands. There are very few specialists who know how to “install hands”, so patients have to wait six months or more for a new limb.

• casualties
• doctors
• Lviv

As part of the charity campaign “St. Nicholas for Children in Need”, the Malteser Relief Service has received over 1,000 letters from children with disabilities and those war-affected. (Many letters came from children whose parents are in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In particular, on the front line. There are letters from children whose parents are considered missing).

Children write that they dream of peace and victory for Ukraine. They ask the Miracle Worker to bring their parents home alive and healthy and to give the Ukrainian Armed Forces superpowers to win as soon as possible. In addition, they asked for the usual gifts from the Saint: toys, scooters, bicycles, etc.

As planned, the letters with the children’s requests are sorted out by the benefactors. They bring prepared gifts to the office of the Maltese Service (which serves as St. Nicholas’ residence for a month). Starting December 6, the presents will be sent to the children.

For reference: This year, Ukraine celebrates St. Nicholas Day for the first time according to the Revised Julian Calendar on December 6.

• children
• Lviv