Love, Loss And Resilience - Stories From A Kindergarten Class In Ukraine

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🗓️ 15 April 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Millions of children have left Ukraine since the Russian invasion. They have relocated across the country and the globe. And while these children are survivors, for many the emotional scars are difficult to heal.

A team of NPR journalists spent months following the stories of 27 kindergarten students - 6-year-olds - who were forced to leave their homes and school in the northeast city of Kharkiv in Ukraine when Russian troops invaded.

Two of the children, Aurora and Daniel, were best friends. Always together in class - inseparable – until they were forced apart by war. Daniel and his family fled to New York. Aurora and her parents ended up in Spain.

Host Elissa Nadworny speaks with the children and their parents about how they are learning to live without each other in a world where they have already lost so much.

And a psychologist discusses the strength and resilience of kids in the face of trauma.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Last August, I visited a kindergarten in Ukraine in the northeast city of Harkiv.
0:05.2	There weren't any students there. Schools have been closed since the war started.
0:09.5	The building was under repair. It had been hit by Russian artillery and two teacherzates were injured.
0:19.9	The head of the school, Yana Sayenko, toured me around the colorful classrooms.
0:24.8	Windows were broken. There was dust and debris everywhere.
0:28.8	But underneath, there was a hint at life before. A row of lockers still filled with clothes and shoes.
0:36.7	As I was leaving, Yana said to me,
0:41.5	It's not the damage to the school that I'm mourning. It's the destruction of childhood.
0:47.3	Like millions of children from Ukraine, the kids who once learned in this kindergarten
0:52.4	are scattered across Ukraine and the world.
0:55.7	Over the next weeks and months, I set out to find them.
1:11.3	Consider this. How did two six-year-olds best friends learn to live without each other in a world
1:18.3	where they have already lost so much? That's coming up. From NPR, I'm Alyssa Nadyrny.
1:25.1	It's Saturday, April 15th.
1:37.6	I spent months following the stories of 27 kindergarten students, forced to leave their homes
1:43.8	and school in the northeast city of Harkiv in Ukraine. One pair of six-year-olds was best friends
1:49.9	inseparable until they were forced to separate by the Russian invasion.
1:55.3	Now they are living an ocean apart. Their story starts with a picture.
2:00.5	The two friends met in Arena Sahan's bright green kindergarten class in the northeast
2:05.2	Ukrainian city of Harkiv. This is young love, Arena says, pointing to a yearbook photo,
2:12.8	where two blonde children are holding hands, smiling at the camera. Daniel Bisev and Aurora Demchenko.
2:20.2	It's with me, my sister. Aurora had strong with a big personality. Daniel, a good listener.
	...

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