Our school started this year as usual with high hopes for children to learn as much as they can, and we were building many plans for all kinds of activities. Everything was going according to plan, but February 24, 2022 changed everything. We were not ready for Russian soldiers in Kyiv. That affected many families, especially those with children. How do we protect our children, how do we keep them away from terrifying information and stress? Ukraine is a friendly nation, and we never planned to have war with anyone, especially Russia.
But war came into Ukraine and destroyed many things. The first weeks were very difficult. With time, we realized that children need to study even during the war. That helps them to focus on useful things; on education and working hard on homework.
Since March, our school has been 100% online. Our children and their parents are scattered all over the world now. Out of 60 students, around 10 quit school over here due to the war. Some of them are attending local schools in USA, Germany, France, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Others decided to stay with us in online schooling because they hope one day to come back to Ukraine and continue their life over here. Around one third of the children are in Ukraine, but they are still on online school. We cannot run the school in person because we do not have a bomb shelter.
We were able to keep our team of wonderful teachers. Most of them are in Ukraine and continue to teach even during heavy shelling and drone attacks.
The only problem we have every day now is electricity and internet. That is something that Russia is using to attack civilians. This war is teaching us many lessons; how to care for each other, how to think ahead when we don’t have any electricity or phone service, and how to value important things in life. And of course, our prayers now are different. We really learn to trust our Heavenly Father! We are ready to do all we can to go through this war and become stronger and wiser. So are our children.
As for our school building, it is serving as storage of humanitarian aid for people who are under Russian occupation. One organization is using our facility totally for free to help people in need!
We are so thankful to all the brothers and sisters in America who are praying for us and helping us all you can. Please continue to stay with us during this terrible time of war. We constantly need prayers and your support! Thank you very much and may the Lord bless you!
Sasha Ryabi