Giinagay or, as we say in Ukraine, pryvit!

Throughout the last three years I have been confronted by the real challenge of the unjust invasion of Ukraine, the violence and the impact on the ordinary person, especially children across this country. The pursuit of peace almost gets lost in the horror of war and we may also feel a sense of helplessness or that it is too far away.

In my role at Bishop Druitt College, I often have the privilege of witnessing young people commit to service, whether through peer support, volunteering with groups like Surfing for the Disabled, assisting with World Vision, contributing to our Christmas Hamper drive for The Soupie, participating in our Human Rights Group or Harmony Day, which advocates for peace. Our Goori Group also plays a vital role in advocating for reconciliation and celebrating our First Nations heritage. Being part of a community so dedicated to generosity through action, I found myself unexpectedly at a loss for how to support those in Ukraine.

I had to ask myself, like many people, what could I do?

Our Anglican tradition and our school community aspires us to live our college motto “Faithfulness in Service” and through reflection and prayer, I kept coming back to this for my source of guidance.

In early 2024, I volunteered as an online teacher for students in Ukraine, where they practice their English, and during my lessons I would focus on a topic like Australian animals (they love pets like many children) or SCUBA diving. Two online volunteer groups Classroom Without Walls https://classroomswithoutwalls.ca/ and then Learn and Teach UA https://vchysia.org.ua/en/ are doing amazing work to transform the unjust and unsafe world of children at school in a war zone. You can volunteer once or as often as you like. I am currently with a brave class in Kharkiv and their teacher each week for 45 minutes; they have been online for three years. This is an amazing example of dedication and bravery by the students and their teacher.

But what would I do? HOPE through action can be many things

With my few words of Ukraine, (thank heavens for Google Translator) I volunteered to be part of a dedicated team in Ukraine throughout December 2024. The Scottish charity called HopeFull were in the country, helping everyday people.

A beautiful country (17 hours by train from Poland, to Lviv and then Zaporizhia in eastern Ukraine) with big open fields for wheat, sunflowers and crops. Ukrainian people are hardworking, have a strong connection to family, community, their heritage and they care if you are a foreigner that comes to visit or volunteer.

The beautiful churches with golden, blue, green or maroon roofs were often visible from a long way. Their spires frequently dominated the skyline. Orthodox Churches were proudly cared for and often visited by locals throughout the day with prayers for those on the front or recently passed. The Field of Mars in Lviv is strikingly solemn and raw. Many World War two remembrance places in small towns (like our ANZAC cenotaphs) were often filled with blue and yellow and many recent pictures of soldiers who had been killed, a very striking reminder that every town had been impacted by this trauma.

The people would say ‘we do not want to fight, but we are fighting for survival’. Their family, their culture and their history are under threat every day. A foreigner like me represents that they have not been forgotten by the world i.e. HOPE.

What can HOPE look like?

Our team of 8-12 was a mobile convoy and we drove to a new village/small town every day. We set up, cooked pizzas and handed this out with some other food, music played, and we tried to connect with local people as they lined up. 8-10 foreigners, playing loud music with a hot meal in the snow…hundreds of people queued up to wait: babies, children, teenagers, elderly. Lines would usually let babies, elderly and the disabled be served first. Sometimes people queued for 90 minutes. Our biggest day was over 2000 pizzas.

Sometimes it was -12, snowing, and raining. Every day as I met people or cooked pizza, it was clear to me that service is a privilege, to PROVIDE HOPE, is such a human emotion that we all need. Providing HOPE when you see people who have little, look exhausted, are displaced, have lost family or cry because the pizza is free, or they are in the armed service is emotionally difficult and it can also fill your heart.

Providing hope as you hear artillery or anti-aircraft fire in the background, is something I did not think I would experience. We came together as a community, as some foreigners were in town with loud music and a hot meal. Hope is a bit of fun, community and something different today and to not be forgotten.

Hope is powerful

What would I do, as a parent in a war zone?

Will my child be safe, at home, in the street, shops or at school?

My wonderful class in Kharkiv had less than a minute when the siren sounded or the Zaporichi School 88 had three minutes from the time when a missile was launched, to when it landed and yes we experienced this violence. I am not sure how Ukrainian people have lived with this for over three years.

As a parent I would not want the risk, so NO to face-to-face school.

The opportunity to visit a brand-new purpose built underground school called School 88 proved amazing. Can you imagine that? Feeling safe for the first time in three years underground with your friends, classmates and a teacher face-to-face. In person, learning lessons without interruption, power, no alerts, food, safe classrooms. 1000 students were 7m underground each day (and it was built within six months).

Every act of service, no matter how small, contributes to a hopeful future in our community and beyond. Staff at BDC have contributed donations to School 88 for their new library, learning and teaching and an NGO that assists people who are disabled on the front line.

Dyakuyu (thank you) for reading this story of HOPE. Hope25 is inspiring for me personally. At BDC, our Anglican community is committed to intentionally sharing and living out hope as part of our everyday mission. We are fortunate that hope remains a guiding value within our Anglican school communities, shaping the way we support and uplift one another.

Simon Doyle
Assistant Principal (Head of Secondary)