Help for Ukraine – children: They lack dads and friends in Prague
All are original occupations teachers. Natalya taught at the grammar school, she has been teaching first-grade students in Ukraine for almost 30 years, Lyudmila is a highly mathematician. They have in Prague in the Grammar School of International and Public Relations (GMMV) in Stodůlky in charge of almost 30 Ukrainian children in two classes.
Nervousness, fear and relief
You can judge better than anyone else, jif children respond to all the abnormalities they are currently experiencing, to all the pain that the war brings. “The first two weeks were too difficult, ”Admits Natalya. “They were afraid, they were afraid to leave the classroom, they were afraid to open the door. Loud sounds startled. When they heard planes, for example, they were scared and looking for a place to hide,“Says Ljudmila.
“The children were still at home with their thoughts, they didn’t know what was going on and why, they didn’t realize it. We have Ukrainian textbooks at our disposal, and when I taught according to them, one the little girl began to tell me sadly that she had left such a textbook at home in Kiev, ”He gives as an example. “They find it difficult that they can’t talk to their fathers, for example, with grandfathers. It just so happened that in the middle of the classroom, some of them cried. “
The situation is better now. Children get used to the Czech environment. “AND thanks to school they are also ripped out of the routine, are confiscated by something. They can write, they see each other with friends, they can have fun with each other and thus come up with completely different worries than when they spend whole days at home with their family, “says Nadia.
Getting to know Prague
It helps a lot how Czech classmates treat them, who are also learning to get used to them. There are no problems with that at school, on the contrary they get along well. “My two grandchildren go to Sparta, for example football training, where they have already met a number of friends, “Ljudmila confided.
The effect is not to mention the various one-off or area events that Ukrainians in Prague can use – whether it is a film screening or a performance. “The great success I noticed was the Prague Botanical Garden or the zoowhich, according to children, is the best in the world, “Natalya nods.
Younger and older
The “war” also comes under fire among children. Not so much among the older seniors, who are all the more aware of the seriousness of the situation, but among the youngest. “If they have young children the opportunity to play an electronic game is associated with the war, “ Lyudmila wonders. “You the elderly remember their friends in Ukraine, but they also talk more about new experiences here in the Czech Republic. Whatever one ate, saw, visited. “
“It is difficult for children, despite their haunting experience they still have trouble recognizing what is good and what is evil, ”Says Lyudmila. “For example, when they hear someone speak Russian somewhere, which also happens among Ukrainians, they start to be more nervous, more aggressive. They will start asking him why he speaks Russian when he is from Ukraine, “he adds. I will add that they are trying to be each other Support, whether someone has gloomy thoughts or is scared. “During that month, they grew very mentally mentally. They mature prematurely“The teachers acknowledge with one voice.
Via Slovakia to Prague
Lyudmila was the only one to arrive in Prague as a result of the war. He lives in Kiev near the airport, which became the target of shelling in the early days. It was a prudent decision, because they are coming to the surface more and more cases where Russian missiles “missed” or deliberately hit civilian targets. By the way, not excluding schools.
“The journey was complicated. Originally, I wanted to travel to the west of Ukraine with my family, who live in Poltava, but the roads were destroyed and interrupted, “he says. In the end, therefore, she decided, like hundreds of thousands of others, travel from their homeland. “Still at the border, we thought the war would end quickly. It’s been over a month, and nothing’s over“I describe in a moved voice.
When she finally got beyond the borders of Slovakia with her mother, daughter and two grandchildren, she did not know where her steps would lead. “Until volunteers advised us that we could go to Praguewhere they take good care of refugees, “recalls Ljudmila. She found herself in Prague so “unplanned” March 3, a week since the start of the Russian invasion. “I didn’t know anyone here, I have no relatives here. It was quite for us a foreign city that has generously received us. I am extremely grateful to all the Czechs I met during the trip, because everyone helped, explained, they offered what they could do for us, ”he says.
Intermittent contact with home
It is difficult and uncomfortable for all three to watch from a distance what is happening in their homeland. They have connections with their loved ones. But it doesn’t always work out. “Whenever possible, we call or write to each other every day,” says Natalya. “But it happens that two days, three days cannot be called. The Russians are blocking the connection, “he explains, adding that such moments are the most unpleasant, because one does not know what is really going on.
School in Stodůlky
All three teachers teach at the GMVV, which is already preparing for the possibility of teaching the children of Ukrainian refugees at the beginning of the Russian invasion. He is currently studying in two classes 28 children. “We have two classes, one lower, the other higher. Both classes learn separatelyThey are in charge of six graduated Ukrainian teachers who established cooperation with us thanks to the House of National Minorities, and specifically Mrs. Olga Mandová, who is in charge of the Ukrainian national minority in our country, “said Šimon Zajíček, CEO for Blesk.
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