“It all started out of desperation”: how Ukrainian women create projects abroad

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Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, about eight million Ukrainians have become refugees. In foreign countries, each of them faces a sense of uncertainty and daily challenges. Despite the changes in life – new circumstances, conditions, new surroundings – Ukrainians find the strength to set new goals, create projects, and help people just like them. “Ukrainian Pravda. Life” talked to Ukrainian women who were able to find and realize their “new” selves abroad. At the same time, Prague became a new home for two of them – Anna and Oksana, and Berlin gave a new experience to Olesya from Kyiv. The women shared their experiences of living abroad and talked about how they treat themselves with work. Olesya: “The mood improved at every editorial meeting” Almost a year after the start of the Great War in Russia, Olesya lives in two countries. In Ukraine, she is the owner of an advertising agency, a co-founder of a film company, and a producer. And in Germany, she is the editor-in-chief of the berlin4ua city guide. The premiere of the romantic comedy “Neighbor”, starring Ksenia Mishina, was supposed to take place in the spring of 2022. On February 23, TV producer Olesya Nagina recalls, she was branding popcorn cups. At that time, no one knew that the premiere would have to be postponed for a year. A full-scale war found Olesya and her children in Kyiv, but the family decided to leave the city. After a week of living in the occupation near Makarov, Olesya took her children to Berlin, Germany. “I didn’t register here for a very long time, because I thought that the 90 days we are allowed to stay in the EU without registration are definitely enough,” says Olesya. Faced with the new realities of culture, language, and bureaucracy, the woman decided to organize a Ukrainian-language project that would serve as a guide for about 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in Berlin. “I accidentally came across a German organization that supported journalists in exile. They work with many countries: Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and now also with Ukraine,” says Olesya. The team of the “berlin4ua” project in Berlin (from left to right: Sofia-Vasilisa, Oleksandra, Marusya, Olesya, Yevgenia, Daryna, Maria) In the summer, a Ukrainian woman proposed to make a project in her native language, they say, “from refugees for refugees”, the organization supported the idea and started looking for financing. During August, Olesya found a team and on August 25, the day after Ukraine’s Independence Day, the website berlin4ua was launched. “In a few weeks, it was developed by Haitians from Mariupol, who at that time were moving from city to city and trying to find the Internet. In Berlin, I created a cell of 5 girls who had experience of journalistic work in Ukraine – they are TV producers and owners of photo studios, who now to become photojournalists or journalists,” Olesya shares. Yevgenia from Mariupol became the community manager in this team. The girl lost her home three times: first in Donetsk, where she studied, then in Mariupol, where she was born, and in Irpen, where she lived before the full-scale invasion of Russia. The damaged house in Mariupol, in which Yevgenia lived “My house was several kilometers from Gostomel, and for almost 2 weeks my mother and I could not leave there, we did not understand where it was safe and where the orcs were,” says Zhenya. She admits that she went to Berlin for 2 days to visit an acquaintance. Later, remembering 2014, she realized that “the sooner something is done, the better it will be later”, so after some time she plunged into volunteering and found a job. “This project is support for those who are forced to integrate into a new environment against their will. In fact, I know few people who want to stay here, but many who need moral support,” the girl says. The girls introduce Ukrainian women to the new city, talking about interesting events and places where you can go with children. They inform about concerts of Ukrainian artists and Christmas evenings in Berlin. They also translate information from the government: about visas, social assistance, document processing. In 3 months, the project grew to several platforms. On Instagram, the girls got in touch with the Berlin designer Frank Wilde, who became famous thanks to his own “elevator windows” with Ukrainian symbols. He supported the project and spread the joint picture to his audience of many thousands. It was on the day of the liberation of Kherson, so there were watermelons in the photo. Part of the project team with Frank Wilde “At every editorial meeting, the mood improved, because we are all here in a terribly depressed state. The project gave us the opportunity to work and explore this city – you write about interesting places and, accordingly, discover them for yourself,” summarizes Olesya Nagina . Oksana: “A project was born out of my personal despair” Not knowing the language prompted Oksana to create her own Ukrainian-language resource. At first, the woman dealt with everything herself, and then decided to tell about it in her own Telegram channel “Ukrainka in the Czech Republic”. That’s how her project was born. Oksana from Odesa region. After February 24, 2022, they and their daughter went to the Czech Republic for a while. The Great War caught the woman at home, when she was preparing for a series of exhibitions of modern Odessa artists in the Bily Museum and working on a new play for teenagers. Later, at the invitation of the Czech Center in Kyiv, she moved to Prague with her child. “I joined the art residencies that the center opened to support artists from Ukraine, because I have successful curatorial and dramaturgical experience,” says the woman. Photo from the personal archive of Oksana, the founder of the project “Ukrainian in the Czech Republic” The foreign language was not the most important problem, because it was everything: information about legal stay, visa, the possibility of obtaining support, medical assistance, etc. When I figured it out myself, I decided to share it with others, says Oksana: “I systematized this information a little: I described the Ukrainian essence and gave links to the primary sources. I created and posted everything in a telegram channel, called it “Ukrainian woman in the Czech Republic”. After a few days, it had about 300 readers. “People recommended the channel to each other. This is how the project was born out of my personal despair,” the woman says. Later, the Telegram channel grew into a website on the Radio Ukraine platform. The main information related to visas, children, medicine, work, transport, housing is updated there every day. In addition, “Ukrainka in the Czech Republic” became a separate mutual support group.

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There, for example, Czech teachers found Ukrainian girls and started teaching them for free, or people offered tickets to theaters. The resource began to provide information support for the performances of Ukrainian artists and became an information partner of film screenings and concerts, support centers for Ukrainian refugees and the Embassy of Ukraine in the Czech Republic. “Private Czech benefactors and organizations began to join the project. “Ukrainka in the Czech Republic” became a real bridge between those who are ready to help and those who need this help,” the woman shares. Currently, the Telegram channel has more than 9 thousand subscribers, about a thousand Ukrainian women in the Czech Republic have joined the mutual support group. And within a month, the project collects more than 700,000 visits. “I saw my own front in this: I do what I can where I am, and this is my contribution to helping Ukrainians and children who have lost everything,” Oksana shares. Anna: “We try to be colorful” The following story is about the love of cooking, and how Ukrainians made Czechs fall in love with their cuisine. Not having similar experience in Ukraine, Anna and her family opened a market of Ukrainian cuisine “BARVA” in the Czech Republic. Anna Temnenko’s story is different from previous ones. The girl has been living and working in Prague for the past 13 years – in 2014, right after school, she went there to study. He currently has a permanent residence stamp in his passport and is fluent in the Czech language. After the full-scale invasion of Russia, in March 2022, relatives – mother, sister and grandmother – came to Anna. When the question arose – what to do in a new city, the family opened a market of traditional Ukrainian cuisine. The women outlined 2 goals for themselves at once – to create jobs for Ukrainians and to tell local people more about Ukraine. They finally decided on the activity when the local food market offered them cooperation. Dumplings with cherries in the market of Ukrainian cuisine “BARVA” in the Czech Republic “They wanted to support Ukraine and create jobs for refugees from there. And because I have experience working here with documents and other things, I took it up,” says the co-founder institution Anna Temnenko. The market provided jobs for 6 people – in addition to the family, three refugees from Ukraine joined him. After February 24, Olena came from Kharkiv region to Prague. In the team, she holds the position of a cook – dishes from the menu are prepared according to her personal recipes, says Anna.

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Although the menu includes a number of traditional Ukrainian dishes, borscht and dumplings with potatoes and mushrooms are in particular demand. Among other things, there are: cheese dumplings, cherry dumplings, soft cheese dumplings, Kiev cutlet and mashed potatoes, “cold” soup in the summer. Pumpkin cream soup and dumplings with rabbit and pumpkin were added to the winter menu. “These are European versions of Ukrainian traditional dishes, they are in demand here,” says the co-founder of the establishment. Czechs like to eat pumpkin dishes the most in autumn. And in other seasons there are plenty of visitors. In addition to the locals, many Ukrainian refugees come to enjoy home-made dishes – the Czech Republic is one of the top three countries that have accepted the largest number of Ukrainians. Employees of the Ukrainian cuisine market “BARVA” in the Czech Republic still remember their lives before the full-scale invasion by their relatives Anna, who left Ukraine. Mother and sister lived in currently occupied Energodar in the Zaporizhzhia region. Anna’s grandmother lived in Kharkiv. She still hasn’t been able to fully adapt to the new city: “They still count money in hryvnias. It’s very difficult for them also because they had no desire to go anywhere, if it weren’t for the war,” says the girl. The market gave a feeling of confidence in the future, says its co-founder. First of all, it is important in the current conditions to introduce foreigners to Ukraine, and secondly, “there are small barriers to opening a business here,” adds Anna. Reminiscing, the girl says that her relatives came to the Czech Republic confused and broken. No one knew what would happen next, and the main question that was stuck in the air at that time was related to the timing – when will it be possible to return back to Ukraine? Cold soup in the market of Ukrainian cuisine “BARVA” in the Czech Republic This question has not found an answer even after almost a year. Also: will there be a place to return to, about the desire to stay living in the Czech Republic and what will happen to the business in the future. By the way, the institution was given the name “BARVA”. “The meaning of this word is the same in Ukrainian and Czech. We are trying to be colorful and show people that Ukraine is not only the horrors of the war caused by Russia, but above all, it is a huge culture,” says Anna. Anastasia Poya, “Ukrainian truth. Life”

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