10 Ukrainians – 10 stories, each of which touches our hearts. A project that reveals a part of the soul of those who fight and continue to fight for the freedom of Ukraine. This is a project that tells how people’s lives changed after February 24, 2022. As part of this project, interviews were conducted with 10 speakers, where students from the USA, Turkey and Ukraine asked them questions and discussed important topics.
Kateryna Borovyk, one of the invited guests, shared her story and talked about her volunteer activities. Kateryna heads the organization called “Center of Youth Initiatives” in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in the city of Kamianske. She engages in supporting internally displaced persons and expanding their opportunities in the community, as well as providing humanitarian aid. The organization also organizes the work of volunteers and various activities aimed at harmonizing the psycho-emotional state of children, adolescents, and young people.
You can learn more about the activities of Kateryna Borovyk in this interview.
–Good evening, Kateryna. As you know, you participate in volunteer activities. Tell me, please, what difficulties did you encounter at the beginning? How and when did you decide to become a volunteer and help Ukrainians in such a difficult time?
– In fact, in our city at the time when the war came to us, we were the only volunteer organization in the city that was at least somehow engaged in this and developed it before that period. Therefore, in principle when it happened on February 24, we were not lost. At that time, we had a powerful team of volunteers. To my personal surprise, none of them went abroad. All of them stayed in the city and continued to help our city and those people who stayed in it and later, who later moved. Because now our city also accepts internally displaced persons. I also understood that I would not leave the city, because I have a rather large team that needs to be administered. There was no such panic, chaos. About a week later, we started to work as actively as possible and get involved in helping our townspeople.
–Were you prepared for a full-scale invasion and how did you meet it?
– I simply called the city council and asked if the events we planned could be prepared. We were all still, let us say, in line. We talked to our management and understood that now we will need a lot of involvement. In many moments, it is also volunteering itself. In order not to start some kind of chaos, we anticipated this. We understood that managers would be needed, and so on, because other organizations hardly have that kind of experience. That is why we immediately got together and worked out in advance viable options where our inclusion would be needed.
-When you woke up on February 24 and already realized that the war had started, did you have any plans? Maybe a few ideas were missed, how to further develop your activity and how it will all turn out afterwards?
– As for me, in principle, I did not stop working. Because we are a communal institution. As an organization that helps young people and children, it was especially important for us not to lose our vector of help, the vector of movement of our activity, so we continued to work. We also provided humanitarian aid during this period, which was aimed at children and young people. But it was during that period, on February 24, that we understood the fact that we are now changing our activities. Now the city does not need measures, but we need control of demanding situations. We faced challenges that we had not faced and for which we were not prepared.
–How have you been able to maintain your mental health since the beginning of the war? What did you do about this, and how do you manage to stay so calm?
– In fact, psychological problems passed me by a little because I immediately started working. It is just a matter of life for me. When something like this happens, I get involved in work so much that it covers other problems that surround me, no matter how difficult they are. I concentrate on it very much. We were also, one might say, were a bit lucky, because our city was somehow not unblocked and there was no very heavy shelling. That is why I am simply of such a nature in my life that when I work so much, I may not seek psychological help.
–How did the war change your life?
– If I could show such visible characteristics, I had become more disciplined. I revised some of my personal life planning strategies. The realization came to me that at any moment it could end, and after that you could no longer do the things you did before. Just as it seemed like we were going to waste time on some more pointless meetings, pointless conversations, that is, you realize that this is actually a very valuable resource, and you never know how much of this resource is allocated to you. This is actually probably my biggest realization. Also, of course, you want to spend more time with people who are really valuable to you, whom you love, and tell them that you love them more often.
-What steps can be taken to prevent Russia from influencing the countries that are territorially around it and, in addition, what steps should NATO take in order to provide Ukraine with adequate military financial protection to fight not only physically, but also mentally. What do you think?
– In general, I am such a tolerant person and I am used to solving everything in my life in a diplomatic way. But, I have a colleague who was in the city and saw what atrocities were actually committed there. And I understand that it will hardly be possible to diplomatically influence such a state for such people who can do such horrific things. I think that they will not always be able to understand this diplomatic language at all. Therefore, I agree that a more effective method will be to influence their military potential and demonstrate that the countries they are trying to attack are not alone, and in the event of an attack, there will be a backlash from the whole world. In principle, this should no longer be acceptable in the 21st century. This should not even be discussed, because of all the stories and tragedies that people go through.
-From a student’s point of view, from a student’s perspective, how do you get through all these difficulties?
– In fact, it is exceedingly difficult for this category of population to continue studying here and to continue working here because you do not fully understand prospects that you have doubts about starting a family during this period, for example. In this teenage period, there are a lot of doubts related to this. But there are still people who have learned and built a strategy for themselves, will stay here, create a family, and so on.
If, from the point of view of school children, COVID-19 prepared us a little bit for such distance learning. This is not new for children, but it is still very difficult because they have limited communication for several years in a row. In the last six months of our activity, we try to hold as many events as possible so that they can meet and communicate at various offline, developing events. We have done them in an insane amount, because in the last six months it was about three or four events a day. Many young people as possible, including displaced people, could continue to develop, communicate with each other and not withdraw into themselves, but on the contrary, go out, let’s say, and continue to live well.
–How can other countries help and support Ukraine? And what exactly would you like the rest of the world to know about the war in Ukraine?
– I agree with the answer of the previous speaker, and I can add that we are now hearing a lot of news from the mass media that decisive battles are going on, so, first of all, probably what comes to mind is exactly help with weapons. Therefore, in principle, I agree with Dmytro.
-How did the war affect the overall social structure? And what efforts are being made to help people recover from the psychological effects of war?
– I can tell you how we help young people cope with the consequences of war, as well as internally displaced persons. Our youth center had funding for youth activities and youth policy from the state budget. Now it is there too, but it’s either completely reduced or very much reduced, because all the resources we have now are mostly going to maintain the army and our defense. And that is why we are now incredibly grateful to our international partners who help us implement various youth programs in the city, which are aimed at working with children.
I also want to add that over the past six months, during the last, eight months of our work, when we have already resumed our work and the activities of the youth center, events with psychologists have become immensely popular. This is individual counseling with psychologists. We have an exceptionally large list of therapies that we can conduct, and only qualified specialists work with them.
-What do you miss from your routine life?
– If we say after the full-scale invasion, then in general, probably eighty percent of my routine was simply removed from me because these were different gyms, these were some holidays, organizations. And in one day, life just changed 360 degrees. But today, I have already gradually returned to that life, to that routine that I had before that. Of course, the habit of monitoring the same news remains. Before, I didn’t do it at all and in principle I wasn’t interested.
Why did I even begin to return to my normal life? Because during some period of volunteering, our entire team came to understand that in order to be more effective and not burn out, you need to give yourself somewhere to rest, For example, we can do sports or work with a psychologist or something else.
-Many of us have had such cases when, after February 24, we were disappointed in some of our friends, acquaintances, even relatives because of different political views. Have you had such an experience?
– I just thought about it and was actually a little surprised that I didn’t even have a single pro-Russian person. Because my two main social circles are my family and my work. And I really can’t think of anyone with whom I would have to talk about these topics.
-What was the hardest part of this war for you?
– Firstly, it is that when it started, we did not know where the terror took place. I tried to be as abstract as possible at work, but on the other hand, all the same, you are somewhere in your thoughts with those people, and you understand the whole, let us say, hopelessness of this situation. Because no matter how much you want to, you cannot help it. Now you must take care of yourself, your close environment, and those people you can help. These situations were probably the most important for me.
-Have you felt the direct impact of foreign financial and military aid to Ukraine? Has the lifestyle of Ukrainians changed due to the consequences of all these attempts to help?
– Regarding military aid, I cannot say anything, because I am not a military expert and do not understand it, but about financing, I can, because now we receive financing from the state budget and from the local one. We implement all activities thanks to international organizations and international aid. And I want to say, at least I will not speak for my city, but for us this help is especially important. We can continue to work. We understand that there is a war going on in our country, but we still have children and young people, and we are trying to attract as many projects as possible to our city, as many specialists, events, etc., so that they can continue to see some kind of future for themselves in Ukraine. We are sincerely grateful to all our partners who help us with this. And we hope that our cooperation will only strengthen.
-Did the war affect Ukraine’s food supply? How do you feel about it?
– I think that it was especially noticeable in the first months, when we began to have a shortage of some goods, some of them could even be found at crazy prices. Then the generators became deficit and did not give us light and electricity. Thanks to our armed forces, our entrepreneurs can continue to work. And if we have a shortage, we are sure that we have people in the country who will be able to restore, replace or obtain these goods. Today there is no crisis in any type of goods, but during the first period of the war it was even worse than during the pandemic, for sure.
-How did you adapt to the new conditions? What kind of propaganda have you experienced since the beginning of the war and has this propaganda changed during the conflict?
– As a person who is not connected to the media, I can say that before I did not really believe in the fact that some kind of propaganda exists somewhere, and I was somehow not interested in it at all. After the start of the war, we immediately realized that it had been there all this time. And yet, when we began to look at verified sources of information: the President of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the Verkhovna Rada, everything went to reduce the fact that we consume low-quality information. At least that is how it happened to me.
-How long has Ukraine been at war with Russia? In your opinion?
– Directly since 2014. I did not study history very deeply, but as far as I remember, she was simply at war with Russia in one form or another all her life.
–How did the war affect children? How does it affect you mentally, physically, and emotionally?
– From my personal observations, children come to us both individually in groups and together with their parents. In those families where the parents were calm and worried about their health, I cannot say that the war traumatized and affected the children. We understand that war is still very difficult in reality, but when more parents worry about themselves, the more they filter what they talk about at home, and understand that it all depends on the subconscious of their child. The calmer it will be to this child, the less time it will be necessary to spend on rehabilitating him later. Therefore, right now we are thinking about such a project. We already have one working, now we just want to expand it because that one is a bit limited.
-What would you like to do after the victory of Ukraine?
– I am currently engaged in this activity, and I will continue to engage in my business in the future. In the future, I will also see my realization in this field of activity.
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