Ukraine kindergartens appeal for help in winter power crisis
Gabriella Jozwiak
Monday, December 19, 2022
Nursery managers in war-torn Ukraine are appealing to UK early education providers for urgent help, as they cope with a crippling power supply crisis over the winter.
Settings across the country have been left without heating, lighting and electricity after Russia’s forces destroyed about half of the country’s energy infrastructure.
Some areas also have no running water as winter brings snow storms and sub-zero temperatures.
Meanwhile missile strikes continue to force people to spend hours taking cover in bomb shelters every day.
At Malyuk state kindergarten and primary school in Lviv, which Nursery World visited in June, director Oksana Rosypska has sent children home during blackouts.
Regional military administrations across the country schedule daily power-outages, aiming to share what electricity is available fairly.
'We turn off the electricity according to the schedule, however, there are difficult days when there is no light for more than four consecutive hours,' said Ms Rosypska.
If parents are unable to care for children at home, the preschool allows them to come in. 'We ask parents to dress them warmly so the children do not catch a cold,' she said.
Kindergartens in Ukraine are appealing for generators
The Lviv Regional Military Authority funded a small, three kilowatt (kw) generator for Malyuk.
This only provides enough power to light in the school’s underground bomb shelter - an unfinished room with a dirt floor – where children stay while air raid alarms sound.
Ms Rosypska says the setting needs a 20kw or 30kw generator to help them provide hot meals and lighting on one floor.
Solomiya Boikovych, co-founder of Ptashenya Kindergardens in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, which Nursery World also visited, spent weeks trying to source generators for her four settings.
She obtained two six kw generators from within Ukraine and Poland, and is waiting for a third to be delivered. As a private setting, the regional authorities compensated half of the costs.
'Our generator is much more powerful than Ms Rosypska’s - we have the option to switch on the heating when the generators are working,' said Ms Boikovych.
'In one of the centres we need two generators, one for heating and one for everything else.'
Ptashenya kindergartens have stayed open without heating and power. Staff take children outside into the playground to focus on gross-motor skills development in the daytime.
But at sundown, if the power remains off, workers ask parents to collect children early.
A Ptashenya kindergarten, Ukraine
Ms Boikovych is considering hosting pre-school sessions within children’s homes if they have access to power. 'We will do anything possible to keep paying salaries, rents, and providing services,' she added.
The situation is very different in the southern region of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces liberated from Russian occupation in November.
Here the authorities closed kindergartens because they are close to the front-line and at risk of being attacked.
UK education charity Street Child is funding organisations supporting children on the ground. Its Ukraine programmes manager Oleksandr Golinevych said the area lacked water, power and food.
He said occupying Russian forces damaged and ransacked kindergartens before they retreated. Toys, educational materials, equipment and computers are all needed as a result.
'Items such as generators, energy-storing objects such as battery packs and winter clothing are at high demand the whole time given the on-going missile attacks on critical infrastructure,' he added.
Mr Golinevych recommended UK early years practitioners donate funds to charities such as Street Child, which can distribute money quickly to local organisations.
However, Ms Rosypska said even if she found extra funds, sourcing generators was the real barrier.
CHARITY APPEAL
In response to the situation, charity UK to Ukraine has agreed to work with Nursery World to help early years settings in the UK send generators to Ukrainian kindergartens.
The organisation has delivered more than 150 generators across the country so far, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, to foundations, schools and an orphanage.
Co-founder Caragh Booth said despite transport and paperwork difficulties, the charity’s aim was 'to get as many generators to Ukraine as we possibly can'.
A six kw generator can power a three-bedroom house and costs about £750. But Ms Booth said a kindergarten with 80 or more children would need a 40kw generator that could cost about £7,000.
'It depends on many factors, and whether they are trying to power the whole school,' she said, adding that prices are fluctuating.
Ms Rosypska said any help would be gratefully received. 'We want to live freely and peacefully in our country,' she said. 'We want our children to grow and develop here, not to flee abroad.'
All photographs courtesy of Ptashenya kindergartens
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Practitioners wishing to donate to either Street Child or UK to Ukraine should do so through their websites below:
https://street-child.org/explore/ukraine
To ensure a donation to UK to Ukraine goes towards generators for early years settings, enter ‘POWER NURSERY’ in the ‘add a message of support’ box when given the option on the Just Giving website, or email the charity directly with any requests or questions. UK to Ukraine will also accept donations of second-hand generators if they meet required needs.
