Our peaceful life ended on February 26th. Russian troops invaded our quiet village. On the first day, they drove their tanks and vehicles back and forth on the main street, shooting around them. The children ran to the cellar at once. The firing lasted for 3 or 4 hours. We squatted down in the cellar….
Over a year ago now when most countries were in some form of lockdown and travel was very restricted a plethora of different ways to adapt to the new normal were devised. One of these was to have regular coffee meetings between the teams in Ukraine and the supporters in other countries. It wasn’t the…
The war in eastern Ukraine startled me as many other Finns. As the news decreased, the Ukrainian’s distress was forgotten. In 2015, Oili and Hannu Räsänen showed pictures and told about their first journey to Ukraine. Something stirred in my heart. Could I do something? Money is of course important, but could I also do…
I miss all the kids so much. Friend’s House used to be full of kids. It was nice. We played games, listened to stories and did homework together. Friend’s House – it’s my home. I joined the kids and listened to stories. Nadya always had something new and exciting to tell us. Zhenya is my…
I come from eastern Ukraine. I’m on the last grade of school in the villige where my family fled from the war in 2014. The final exams are ahead, and in a fairly short time, we need to manage five subjects, each of them with at least 35 rather extensive themes. Difficult, but not impossible…
Text: Mirjam Adolphi Photo: Hannu Räsänen The life of a street child held Natasha in its grip; she lived in the street, in jail… Natasha lived to be 30. Her first day at school never came. Natasha’s life on earth ended on 12.8.2015 Her greatest dream as a child was to go to school, but…
Chestnut and lilac blossoms welcomed us for our second visit to Ukraine. This time we were a group of four; we met old acquaintances and new friends and godchildren. We were happy to bring a gift from our friends in ”MaPa Projects”, to meet a child’s acute need. Social welfare worker Tanya took us to…