The Ukraine Center in Vilnius offers refugees practical help and training, but also much-needed support and comfort.
VILNA It was just supposed to be a relaxing family vacation.
Ukrainian Olesya Kholodova left with her husband and daughter at the end of January for Zanzibar. The intention was to spend an entire month vacationing in the heat of the tropics.
The return flight to Ukraine was on the evening of February 24.
In the morning, Kholodova’s mother called and said: Don’t come back.
Russia had launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine. In Zanzibar, the Kholodova family had by chance met Lithuanian tourists while couchsurfing, who invited the Ukrainian family to live with them in Vilnius.
Months later, Kholodova and her family are still living with these Lithuanians. They haven’t even visited their home in Ukraine since they went on vacation.
– I was lucky. Now I am here with my husband and daughter, says Kholodova.
He has also been a blessing to other Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Lithuania. When the Ukrainian embassy heard about Kholodova’s successful fundraising event for refugees, she was offered the role of coordinator in the new Vilnius In the Ukraine center (you will switch to another service).
– We want the Ukraine Center to be a home for all Ukrainians in Lithuania, Kholodova sums up the center’s vision.
Fathers and brothers stayed in Ukraine
The center was jointly inaugurated by the spouse of the President of Lithuania Diana Nausedienė and via video link the spouse of the President of Ukraine Olena Zelenska. It is headed by Lithuania’s former ambassador to Ukraine Algirdas Kumza and it is established in the premises of Vytautas Suure University.
The university building on the outskirts of the center of Vilnius has come to life in the middle of summer. There is a children’s gym club right in the entrance hall, and a Turkish one in the adjacent auditorium Your Avci holds English classes for Ukrainian women.
The lesson ends with a piano and vocal performance reverberating in the hallway.
At the same time, an energetic speech training in the Lithuanian language is taking place on the upper floor.
– Lithuanian lessons are more popular than English lessons. Ukrainians want to find work here and establish routines, and that requires local language skills, says coordinator Aisapari Kholodova, intern Tetiana Honcharenko.
He comes from the suburbs of Kyiv, near Butcha, where Russian forces are suspected of committing blatant war crimes against civilians.
Honcharenko managed to escape a couple of weeks after the outbreak of war to Denmark together with his mother and female relatives. From there, he traveled to Lithuania in the summer for an internship.
Honcharenko’s father and brother are still in Kiev, as men of service age are not allowed to leave the country.
– Father told us to go abroad. He said he doesn’t have to worry about us now that he knows we’re safe.
Most of the visitors to the Ukraine Center are women and children, and those who stayed in Ukraine are always on their minds.
Fairytale therapy and sewing machines
Next, let’s go down one more floor. Mornings are the busiest time at the Ukraine Center. Lithuanian Margarita Kalinka holds art classes for children. The expressions are concentrated when the brushes spread paint on the canvas.
The children have made drawings and paintings for the Ukrainian soldiers at the center, which have been delivered to the front on aid transports.
In the next classroom, a Ukrainian Kateryna Serdiuk teaching children how to use a sewing machine. Small cloth bags have been made today.
– In Ukraine, I had my own children’s clothing brand. The new collection burned down at the factory in Kharkiv, Serdiuk says.
Starting life from scratch in a new country is not easy, but Serdiuk gets inspiration from working with children.
– Children have so much energy that I can recharge my batteries here. Maybe I’ll start a new company here in Lithuania, Serdiuk thinks.
The teachers are volunteers and all lessons and events are free of charge. The states of Lithuania and Ukraine act as financiers of the center. In the long term, the activity is intended to support Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
Now the center aims to promote the integration and employment of refugees and organizes events representing Ukrainian culture. A Ukrainian psychologist runs group therapy classes for war refugees: fairy tale therapy for children and art therapy for adults.
The visit of the president’s spouse was moving
The surprise visit of Diana Nausėdienė, wife of the Lithuanian president, to the center in July left an indelible impression on the customers.
Just attended the Lithuanian language class Mariia Mazhuha says that she cried out of emotion and gratitude when Nausėdienė came to personally ask her and her children how they were doing.
– We talked for a while. He asked how we have done here and what kind of wishes or needs we have.
Mazhuha’s family comes from the Kiev region, where at the beginning of the war they dyed in a basement bomb shelter.
– How can it be that something like this happens in the 21st century? Bombing, cannon fire, deaths of innocent people. We can’t stand this.
Mazhuhakin feels lucky that her husband has also made it to Lithuania. There are three children in the family, one of whom is a special child. According to Mazhuha, the number of children and special needs influenced the fact that the children’s father was also allowed to go abroad with the family.
Nowadays, the family visits the Ukraine center in Vilnius almost every single day. Mazhuha praises the importance of the center, especially for children, who get to play there and spend time with other children.
Intern Tetiana Honcharenko summarizes many people’s thoughts about the Ukraine center as a safe and comforting place for children and adults who fled the war:
– We are all away from home and we need something close to us. The center connects and brings us closer, and turns our attention to something else. It helps us get through these difficult times.