“I’m very sorry, but now we`re really full of sadness. Each of us lives in the hope of a better future. We all believe in the Armed Forces and that our wise and kind people will win. Everything will be as we want. Everything will be Ukraine!”
— Telling about myself is the same as telling about a Ukrainian woman at a good age, who lived a glorious and peaceful life before the invasion of Russian troops. I was born where Ovruchchyna was famous for its partisan movement. Where Ovruchchyna became the site of the Chernobyl zone. And for me as a small, young, adult, no matter how small my Motherland is — it is always the best, brightest and most desirable.
I like meeting my compatriots: kind, sincere. People who collect mushrooms, berries. People who work in granite quarries. But, you know, today everything is covered with sadness. My Ovruchchyna is located near the Belarusian border. And when it thunders in Belarus — it thunders both in Ovruch and in Narodichy, my fellow countrymen feel fear that the wonderful life in a beautiful, quiet corner of Zhytomyr region with green forests and the clean Zherev river will end.
I graduated school there, and continued my studies at the Korostyshiv Pedagogical School. After returning to my native village, I began working as a teacher. I was an interesting teacher. I was both a pioneer counselor and a singing teacher, because I graduated from a music school. I played accordion. And I am a drawing teacher — I can draw. I was even a teacher of German and Russian languages. Teaching grew in me. I wanted to investigate some unexplored paths in education.
I graduated from the Zhytomyr Pedagogical Institute, first majoring in Russian language and literature, then from the Zhytomyr Pedagogical University, majoring in Ukrainian language and foreign literature. And I became a teacher at the Korostyshiv Pedagogical College named after Ivan Yakovych Franko. Just imagine how happy I was: to come to your alma mater and become a teacher there?
However, I wanted to acquire more teacher’s knowledge and I enrolled in postgraduate studies, completed it stationary and defended my thesis at Drahomanov University. My dissertation on the methodology of teaching Ukrainian literature was accepted and approved. And today I am a candidate of pedagogical sciences.
Maybe my students don’t care who teaches them: a candidate of sciences or just a teacher without a scientific degree. However, when I see my students, I know: I am their friend and an interesting interlocutor for them. I am an artist and our classes always pass smoothly.
— How did the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine affect your work and studies in general?
— Enemy intentions terribly changed our life, not for the better. Entering the auditorium with pleasure, seeing the smiling faces of my students, I felt pure joy from the communication that filled my life. And today it’s online. If you create it right, this process brings pleasure. Anyway, learning goes with sadness, because, although we see each other, we cannot feel warmth from each other. I feel sorry not so much for my students as for first graders. Students will get their knowledge and will be good teachers by studying well. And here are the little children who will come to school for the first bell, if they come, in case this school is not destroyed: will everyone be at the desk, will the teacher show them how to hold a pen, how to write numbers and letters in notebooks? They may be deprived of this pleasure. There is no school. There is online. This is already, as they say, “forced training”, which comes out of today’s wartime.
The fact that my son is at the front and my soul is out of place has also affected me. And I want to say to all boys, all defenders, adults, even those of my age: “Hold on! We are with you. Everything will be Ukraine!” People walk around, they talk, they are happy with children, but I know that everyone has the hope for peace; hope that we will overcome everything and return to a cheerful life.
Our life has changed. Is it for the better? Of course not. So far, it’s not easy for all of us, but later we will rebuild everything and make our Ukraine a real European state. And then both education and, actually, people will live in a new way — the way they deserve it.
— What was your life like before the full-scale invasion?
— This is life in a beautiful family, where everyone knows that they are involved in working; that they are raising children, because I’m already a grandmother of two beautiful grandchildren. Life was such that we, conscious, adult people, liked it. Because everything was our way: decent, calm, life-affirming. Whatever we did, we did it intelligently and from the heart. And, probably, at that time we did not feel that it was happiness. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who the following saying belongs to, but it is from philosophy: “This is just human happiness: you run to work with joy, you return home with joy — and at this time you feel happy.”
— What were your thoughts regarding further life in the context of events in Ukraine?
— At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we were all very scared. It seemed to us that this was the end of everything. We closed the windows, hid in the cellar, and listened to that alarming siren that often went off with fear. However, humans are creatures that get used to everything. It would sound scary and awful, but we are used to the fact that we have a war, and to the fact that we also live in a war, because no one will return a single day of our life to us. We live, which means we work, we hope, we help the front, we support our soldiers in any way we can: from the phone to the volunteering. I have already forgotten those first anxious hours of the military invasion. Today I live a different life, but it is meaningful and still full of hope. I know what I live for: I want victory. I want my son to come home.
— What influenced your decision to stay in Ukraine?
— Ukraine is the native home that cannot be replaced by anything. How can I leave her at such a difficult time? I’m here because I worked with volunteers. I’m here because I went to my native college and helped with enrollment and recruitment of students to our higher education institution of the first level of accreditation. I’m here because I helped my relatives in the first days of the war, encouraged them. I’m an optimist by nature. I even conducted such encouraging work with my friends who were falling into despair. People needed me, so I didn’t go anywhere. I stayed in my native home and, I think, I will always be here.
Everything I do — I do for the good of the state, my educational institution and my family. Who am I? I’m a mother, I’m a protector. They [family members] are near me. So, I am their support. They stick to me and listen to me. And therefore my decision is the only correct one. I know what I need to do.
— Have you already thought about plans for the future, taking into account the experience gained during the war?
— Of course. I think that after the victory, as it will definitely happen, I will continue my work on educating patriots of Ukraine, future teachers of the new Ukrainian school. At college, the patriotic upbringing of a true Ukrainian was always at the proper level. At work, teachers give “seeds of goodness and truth” to each of their learners, which will later grow in their students. Therefore, I plan to work, support my family and, if possible and necessary, I will support anyone who needs any support: financial or moral. I love Ukrainians, I’ll be there for them.
— You also said that you are a candidate of pedagogic sciences, have you thought about going on to get a doctorate?
— In general, I had the opportunity to stay and work in Kyiv at the Department of Ukrainian Literature at the University named after Drahomanov, to work at the Zhytomyr Pedagogical University. I could study for a doctorate in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi, but my place is the Korostyshiv Pedagogical College — my alma mater. Entering this institution every morning fills me with strength, youth, and joy. I will have enough knowledge, power, and respect. Therefore, at my good age, I no longer plan to enter doctoral studies. I am a doctor for myself, for students, for my family. A doctor of souls who gives positivity and joy. This is how I see myself, this is what makes me happy. That’s the kind of doctor I am, even if I’m not a scientist.
Translator: Bohdana-Nikolietta Terekhina
