“The dream is to create a large youth space.” A schoolgirl’s story about the experience of survival in the occupation and activism

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Anastasia Mynenko studies in the 10th grade in the de-occupied town of Horodnia, in Chernihiv Oblast. She is an artist, the president of the school self-government, a public activist, a volunteer.

He organizes meetings and assistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, school holidays for children, and also paints his hometown and works on a youth space project.

Nastya talks about her experience of living through the occupation and the development of public activism in the special project of the UP “Generation of Victory” dedicated to children from the de-occupied territories.

The project was initiated by the GoGlobal educational foundation, which generates, pilots and scales projects for teachers, schoolchildren and young people.

Anastasia Minenko. Photo: Oleksandr Maslov

About school elections

Nastya still remembers the moment when the desire to act and behave actively arose. When she was in the 6th grade, the school held elections for the school president.

It was there that the girl first felt that the example of active and caring high school students inspired her.

Then Nastya was very impressed by the girl who, during the epidemic, had taped the aisles in the school, indicating the distance, herself had designed the posters. It turns out how much it is possible to do with your own hands! Later, the girl herself submitted her candidacy for school president.

“The election of the president of the school self-government was a very moving experience for me, because I did not believe until the end that I would be able to hold such a position.

And I was most worried that I would take second place in the elections! Because the first is victory, the third is that we still have to work, and the second is what? Didn’t finish it?!” – shares Nastya.

The first year of the “presidency” was difficult, the schoolgirl recalls – a full-scale war began, there were many restrictions in the school, and there were alarms.

“But I still tried to do some activities, gather schoolchildren together, to improve their mood, to give children hope.

During this time, we constantly conduct activities for younger schoolchildren, trying to raise their spirits. For example, we made a Halloween holiday: we designed the location, organized costumes, make-up, contests. The main thing is not to stop!” – adds the girl.

About the occupation

“Until the end, I didn’t believe that the invasion would happen, although everyone around me was talking about it. On the first day, when my mother said that the war had started, I didn’t believe it so much that I started going to school and putting books in my briefcase. But then they blew up bridge on the way out of the city – and I realized that I will not get to school anymore”– the girl recalls.

Nastya remembers the first two weeks of the occupation as very scary: there was no communication, light, heat. It was impossible to even find out what was happening with friends and relatives at the other end of the village. Only terrible news arrived: someone was shot near the forest when a person tried to catch a connection, someone died trying to leave…

There were not enough products, people stood in lines for 6 hours to buy food.

Deoccupation

“We could not live normally in the occupation and were very much waiting for ours to come, – says Nastya, – we just hoped for it, because there was no light, no communication – and we did not know what was happening in the world at all.”

Then street battles began, and soon the Armed Forces finally arrived in Horodnia. It was like the beginning of a new life!

“After the return of communication and light, we immediately began to organize meetings and help for the military, – shares Nastya. – The very first fundraiser I joined took place in our community: we collected humanitarian aid. And then we organized net weaving and the production of trench candles in our school. They helped constantly, it was our joint work.”

Space for teenagers

“This summer, I decided to join the National University of Ukraine (“Extraordinary Ukrainian Youth”) – there we learned to write projects, pitch them, and look for grants for it.

My dream is to create a large youth space in Horodna, where our youth can communicate, spend time, and implement their projects. My team and I have been working on this idea for quite some time, but for now it is still our dream. We are looking for ways to implement and will continue to try.

I’m sure everything will work out soon!” – says Nastya.

The schoolgirl is also very fond of drawing.

“It is very nice when people like my creativity and the creativity of my friends. We have already painted the school basement, the basement of the music school – both rooms work for us and as a shelter. That is why we want them to be more aesthetic and make efforts for this! After all the beauty of our city is in our hands!” – shares the girl.

The #ПоколенияПеремогы project was created in video, photo and text format. The photo exhibition can be seen in the center of Kyiv (Gulliver shopping center, 2nd floor) from December 14. Famous photographer Sasha Maslov worked on photo stories of teenagers, whose works are regularly published by publications such as The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Newyorker, Guardian, Wall Street Journal Magazine and others. His lens captured not only touching moments, but also the power that pulsates in the heart of every child talent

Text: Yana Altukhova

#ПоколеннияПеремогы

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