We continue with stories about the Ukrainians whom the war has deprived of the most precious thing — the feeling of earth under their feet. They are looking for a new home, which has brought each of them to our pilot communities.
Some of them have fixed up an old rural house and moved there with their families. Some of them teach local children to weave amulets for Ukraine’s defenders. The others, meanwhile, find more reasons to welcome each new day.
Olena Shvydka, who used to live in Mariupol, now manages the IMariupol hub in Vinnytsia.
Back in her home town, she worked for a utilities company and took care of elderly parents until an air bomb hit her house. Having spent a month in the basement and having survived a fire that destroyed her parents’ house, Olena decided that they must get away from it all. After going through a filtration camp, living in an occupied village, and enduring an exhausting journey, she managed to get her parents out and move to central Ukraine.
The IMariupol center was inaugurated in Vinnytsia on 24 May last year. It was the fourth hub for IDPs from Mariupol to appear in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion.
‘3,540 Mariupol residents have been registered so far at our center, receiving a variety of assistance here. These include monthly food and hygiene kits, psychological and other medical services, legal support and employment. A children’s room also operates at the hub,’ says Olena.
At IMariupol.Vinnytsia, displaced persons are offered much more than free use of services that cover basic needs. By now, the hub has transformed into a veritable community where various events and activities take place almost on a daily basis.
Most of the events are held for children — the center’s team seeks to give back to Ukrainian children the childhood that the Russian terrorist state had so cynically snatched away from them.
For example, an introductory meeting with police officers was recently held at Kvadrat, a local youth center. The children could see how the patrol police work, ask pyrotechnics a few questions, have their fingerprints taken in the forensic experts’ corner, and even pet the K-9 dog.
A master class for young chefs was held at one of the iconic Georgian restaurants in Vinnytsia. For the first time in their lives, the kids cooked Khachapuri Adjaruli!
In addition to children’ activities, events for adults are also held. For example, training sessions, hosted by psychologists from the International Organisation for Migration Ukraine and dedicated to restoration of the resource state, are offered for displaced women on Saturdays.
Recently, everyone could attend a master class on coffee art.
All the hub’s employees are displaced persons from the city that was one of the first to suffer from the Russian invasion: ‘At our center, Mariupol residents work for Mariupol residents. After all, no one understands the trouble better as the one who has survived it.’
What amazes Olena the most is the fact that after leaving the city of almost half a million, former neighbors from the same house or people who went to the same library would meet at the hub.
For example, Olena’s co-worker Svetlana, when applying for employment, indicated the same address as Olena’s. Only the number of the flat was different.
Olena also shares how Vinnytsia’s hospitality echoes that of Mariupol. Ever since the hub appeared in the city, it was actively supported by local entrepreneurs, the authorities and concerned youth. Meanwhile, refugees from Mariupol would always treat residents of Vinnytsia to the most delicious southern pies.
IMariupol.Turbota, the hub-based social services center, is expected to be opened later, offering dental, seamstress, and hairdresser services to former residents of Mariupol, along with a co-working space. Displaced persons will also work at it.
Olena also dreams of a project that would support food and hygiene kit deliveries to towns and villages far from Vinnytsia.
Meanwhile, the IMariupol.Vinnytsia team is developing its own Telegram channel, posting the news about master classes, shows, and activities for children and their parents. The link is https://t.me/i_mariupol_vin.
The IMariupol.Vinnytsia hub was set up on the initiative of Vadym Boichenko, Mayor of Mariupol, with support from the Vinnytsia and Donetsk Oblast Military Administrations, and the Swiss-Ukrainian EGAP Program implemented by the Eastern Europe Foundation.
