Hello! Tell us about yourself. Where are you from, how old are you, and what do you do?
I’m originally from Husiatyn, a small town in the Ternopil region, but I lived in Kyiv for eleven years, and now I’ve been in Lviv for four years. I’m thirty-two years old.
Outside of family and household duties, I’m an SMM specialist, content creator (particularly video), and everything else related to social media and marketing. I’ve been volunteering for over two years now. I’m part of the team of charitable foundation «Riy», and I join other initiatives that support the military.
Activities that take up a lot of my time outside of family and volunteering are sewing, sorting garbage, participation in Plast (National Scout Organization of Ukraine) with my daughter, cycling, reading books, and a passion for Ukrainian history.
How did your story with the charitable foundation «Riy» begin?
I knew Diana, the founder of «Riy», a long time before the full-scale invasion. We worked together in another initiative she founded. For the first three months after February 24, I was recovering and looking for safe ground to hold on to in the chaos that the russians had created for us. By the end of May, I found the strength within myself and wrote to Diana that I was ready to support the army with «Riy». From that day until now, I have been part of the content team (I was the head of this team for more than six months).
The part of the «Riy’s» team (Alina on the left; from her personal archive)
You mentioned that you join various initiatives in order to support the military. Can you tell us more about it?
When I said that, I meant initiatives that I can support not only financially but in other ways as well.
For example, creating content for fundraising, starting my own collection and promoting it, participating in waste sorting campaigns to turn the collected money into donations, creating various handmade items with my daughter in order to support the spirit of our defenders, gathering materials for trench candles and elements for drones that can cause significant damage to the enemy.
What inspires you to continue creating content, and how do you deal with moments when you feel like giving up?
First and foremost, I’m inspired by the results and the satisfaction I get from the process when an idea in my head becomes a reality by my own hands.
In moments of despair, I don’t fight it at all, but simply allow such days to be, just like any other days. I live through them quietly and «at the bottom». Unfortunately, it wasn’t always like this. Only when I felt a very strong burnout was I able to listen to myself. I finally stopped fighting with these emotions in such moments and instead started supporting myself in any way I can.
Do you have any success stories related to your volunteer work that still inspires you?
Every closed collection is a success story. Especially when it was a collection for my uncle. I am very inspired by the moments when, a week after the opening of the collection, I could see the necessary part for the car or device in his hands at the front.
There’s also a story about a post on «Riy’s» Instagram page about the daily life of a soldier on the front line. I initiated this interview with the military (as this soldier is my child’s godfather), collected all the materials, and designed it visually. The post was seen by many people, including those who could quickly raise a large amount of money to equip a mobile laundry complex. And the stars aligned in such a way that the brigade in which my child’s godfather serves was next in line to be provided with these mobile laundry complex by our foundation. Imagine my happiness.
For each of us, February 24 began with the harsh word «war». Did you prepare for the full-scale invasion, and how did you feel that day?
Yes, we prepared, expected, and packed emergency bags. I remember very well the moment when I went to bed late on February 23rd and said to my husband out of the blue: «they will attack today, I know it». And when my first alarm went off in the morning, around six o’clock, I felt that something was already wrong (even though there were no sirens in Lviv at that time) and consciously turned it off.
This way, I gave myself the opportunity to sleep for another hour in the «previous peace life», because the next alarm was already the sound of sirens coming from everywhere, and on the phone – dozens of messages from relatives, from friends in Kyiv, for whom the invasion had begun a few hours earlier.
Tell us about #mynesliptsi which means we are not blind. What’s the meaning behind this hashtag’s name, and what’s its purpose?
In the first months of the invasion, even before «Riy», I spent all my free time with books about Ukrainian history. Truthfully, I was interested in our country’s history long before it became mainstream. I have a number of books that I believe every Ukrainian should read (Orest Subtelnyi «Ukraine: A History», Yaroslav Hrytsak «Overcoming the Past: A Global History of Ukraine», Oleksandr Palii «A Short Course in Ukrainian History», Serhii Plokhii «The Gates of Europe»).
In #mynesliptsi , I wrote about historical facts that I’ve learned over the years and which the average Ukrainian doesn’t know but should. I would like to continue writing important and interesting things using this tag, but I don’t have time for it now, and many great historians who are professionals in this field have come online.
I noticed your wonderful daughter in your Instagram. Please share how you teach her to love everything Ukrainian?
Thank you!
I consider our decision to move from Kyiv to Lviv four years ago to be the most successful so far. We completely lost our russian-speaking environment and my daughter doesn’t understand russian at all (in fact, this was one of the reasons for the move, because at that time I couldn’t find a completely Ukrainian-speaking kindergarten in Kyiv where the child wouldn’t «pick up» words from the enemy’s language). As for the rest, we simply do together what I did in my childhood in the Ternopil region. Things that gave me this love for my country and the strength to hold on to it at a time when being Ukrainian-speaking in Kyiv was very difficult.
The most important thing, I think, is to read Ukrainian books, preserve our traditions, not to be shy from dialect, wear national clothing, and not to be afraid to talk about our history, which had not only tragedies but also victories.
I also really wanted my daughter to join Plast (and I joined with her), and this year will be our first Plast camp. I’m very happy about this because one of the three main values of Plast is to be faithful to God and Ukraine.
What or who do you associate with a free and unbreakable Ukraine?
With the people who stood by her in the darkest times and didn’t let her break, and who made every effort to ensure she would be free.
Translator: Yuliia Koleha
