Is it possible to return to a happy past? Let us tell you the story of our partners https://a-help.com.ua/, who created a time machine for children.
For many years, the kindergarten had a development center. It was opened by Roman Hrybkov so that children from the village of Zhukovske could attend various interesting clubs.
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Kharkiv was bombed from a neighboring country. The distance from the enemy border to the children’s center is 30 minutes by car. Needless to say, the city’s residents took their children to safe places.
So, for the first time after the full-scale invasion, the children’s center stopped its work and started it in a new capacity – as a volunteer center. Roman initiated the creation of the volunteer center, and he also organized large deliveries of humanitarian aid to Kharkiv. At the beginning of the center’s work, Roman’s family members, friends, and colleagues worked there. However, people did not feel safe, so they decided to leave the city. Iryna Vodomierova joined the center, and later she was joined by Iryna Pushai and her husband.
Previously, both Irinas taught several classes at the children’s center. Iryna Vodomierova is a teacher, psychologist and art therapist by training. Iryna Pushai is a mathematical engineer and tutor. Since March 2022, both of them have changed their occupations.
There was no electricity or gas in the district, so people were starving. Roman brought food, and the girls and their team prepared and distributed hot meals for 200 people every day. The premises of the children’s center turned into a warehouse, a large kitchen and a temporary shelter at the same time.
In the summer of 2022, thanks to our defenders, Kharkiv was shelled less, so people started to return.
“One day I heard children laughing in the yard. I looked out and saw children playing. Of course, we immediately started thinking about what to do with them, how to help and support them,” says Iryna Pushay.
That’s how Iryna Vodomerova came up with one of the strangest children’s projects of this war – a pool with balls and a place for creativity.
The kindergarten had a basement hall and a real swimming pool. The Iryns began looking for everything they needed to equip the space and finance the project. In a miraculous way, this wish was granted when Iryna Vodomerova’s Facebook post about the idea was seen by Yulia Konotoptseva, director of the Global 2000 for Children of Ukraine. Yulia’s home district is the village of Zhukovsky.
“I immediately thought of two things: first, no one else works with children at Zhukovsky, it’s dangerous there. At the same time, there are children, and a lot of them, with nowhere to go and nothing to do. And secondly, we were talking about the basement, which is safe for children to stay in, so they could be there during the shelling,” Yulia recalls.
The children’s center is now open again. Almost 50 children attend various clubs and activities every day while their parents work. Psychological help, Hibuki therapy, creative workshops, communication with peers, and of course fun in the pool are important aspects of helping children during the war. This project is definitely useful!
“I was in that room – the children are happy! There is a line for the slide to the pool with balls, flocks of them are crammed on mats and poufs, drawing something at the tables. Everyone is laughing and looks like they have returned to a past life where there is no war,” says Yulia Konotoptseva.
Charitable Foundation “A-help Ukraine” has another important area of work – assistance in the de-occupied territories of Kharkiv region. But we will tell about it in the next posts.