Anna and Valya

Anna and Valya helped a group of Ukrainian children travel to the UK so they could take part in Summer Schools.

In August 2023, after nearly a year and a half of war in Ukraine, BHSU was able to bring a group of children over from Kyiv to enjoy a summer of fun at British summer schools.

Each of the seven children had tragically lost one or both parents in the war and were being supported by our new partner, Children of Heroes, a grassroots non-profit based in Kyiv.

Group leaders Anna and Valya helped the children travel to the UK and supported five of the students who joined Etherton Education’s programme at Blundell’s School. The group spent four weeks at the school in Devon with a packed schedule of classes and social activities.

The school day was spent in the classroom with lessons taught in English. Drama classes helped the children improve their language skills and build their confidence performing in front of their peers. They also had the chance to try out different experiments in the science lab and looked to the future with lessons in business.

As well as their academic classes, the children made friends with others from around the world out on the sports field and unleashed their creativity with arts and crafts sessions.

The month had a transformative effect on the children and the group that got back on the bus with Anna and Valya to travel home was not the same as the one they arrived with.

A new reality

Valya’s 13-year-old daughter was one of the children given a place on the programme by Children of Heroes. The family became involved with the organisation after their husband and father was tragically killed in August 2022 while defending the Donetsk region of Ukraine. He had volunteered to fight for his country from the very first days of the war along with Valya’s son. They started out protecting Kiev before heading east as the Russian troops were pushed back. Her 26-year-old son continues to fight for Ukraine.

One thing the group were all struck by was how quiet life in Britain was. Valya explained that after nearly two years of war, they’ve grown used to the sounds of fighting and “you start forgetting [what it was like before].” Anna added that reality has changed and “we have to understand what different sounds mean, what is a drone and what is a missile. Normal people in their normal life, they shouldn’t know those sounds.”

It was clear how much the mindset of the children had been affected when they arrived into Poland to catch their flight to the UK. In Ukraine, all civil flights have stopped and the sight of a plane means danger. “When the children saw planes in the sky for the first time, they came up to us and asked, ‘Why is there a plane in the sky?’ They were so serious and worried about it,” said Valya, who had to reassure the children that they were safe.

Arriving in the UK felt like something of a fairytale. Valya saw the children’s amazement at “the green fields, the buildings made of stone, everything is so ancient with its own character and atmosphere. And sheep everywhere!” The change in environment brought smiles to everyone’s faces along with a month of “quiet nights without sirens, without raid alerts, without the sound of drones.”

New friends across borders

Finding themselves in a whole new environment, the children were thrown into a melting pot of cultures with students from all over the world. There were nerves at first but they soon figured out ways to communicate across different languages, teaching each other new phrases and slang.

Even without sharing a language, the group found a great leveller in the form of sports and creative activities. Anna explained that there isn’t a big focus on sport in Ukrainian schools but in England it’s a whole different story. “English people were so involved in sport so the children were like, ‘Okay we need to get involved’, which was amazing.”

Over the course of the month, the children also had a chance to explore the local area with day trips to Bath, Bristol, Longleat and the Eden Project.

A month of transformation

When Anna and Valya met the children as they boarded the bus to Poland “they were very quiet and reserved”. The weight of the past year was clear to see and Anna was conscious that the children had not just been living through war but “have been traumatised by the death of their parents. They still have to live with it and go through it every day.”

And while Summer School could not get rid of this pain, the new environment gave them a break and chance to reset. Anna and Valya watched as the children jumped in and were “talking to different people from different backgrounds and cultures”. Surrounded by friendly students and teachers and in a space where they could finally relax, Anna said it was “priceless” to see the children “start to melt” and have the smiles return to their faces.

For Valya, the transformation was extra special as she got to see the impact it had on her daughter day by day. Before the trip “she was very afraid to go, afraid that nobody would understand her English and that there would be people from different countries that she wouldn’t know how to communicate with.”

“She was afraid of drama classes in particular because we don’t have them in Ukraine and she was scared to go on stage and perform in front of so many people.” But soon drama because “her favourite class of all and she never wanted to miss it.”

Now back in Kyiv, Valya can see the lasting change in her daughter. “She says it was like a shock to her heart.”

While nothing can undo the tragedies that the war has caused for these children. But a month in a new environment making friends and having experiences filled with fun not fear has had an impact that will continue long past the summer. It brings new life and hope back into these children’s lives as they look forward to a world beyond the war.