English with Fiona


I'd been thinking for some time about trying to get an English conversation group going in Kharkiv. It was our oldest volunteer, Vera (aged 76), who gave me the motivation to do something about it. She is the head baker on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I love working with her. She speaks only a few words of English and I try to communicate with my limited Ukrainian. One day, recently, Vera began asking me how to say things related to making bread rolls, like flour, yeast, etc. I talked to Liuda, who administrates Hell's Kitchen, and asked what she thought about an informal group for Ukrainian volunteers who want to learn English to communicate with foreign volunteers. She liked the idea and, within a day, had sent out the invitation below and organised a venue!

The first meeting of "English with Fiona" was on Sunday at 4 pm in a local cafe. I thought perhaps three, maybe four, people would attend but eight came, which was really heart-warming, if a little chaotic because the place is quite small. This cafe was chosen because everybody knows where it is, it's near a Metro (underground) station and it's usually quiet, which was just as well as we took over most of the space! I could do with better teaching aides, which I've organised for next time, but there was plenty of interraction, we had a lot of fun and I think some English was learned!


The following day I spoke to Liuda about how the meeting went and wondered if I should try to find a more appropriate learning environment, e.g. a library. She said an interesting thing, which is that the Ukrainian volunteers in the kitchen have lost about 90% of their previous contacts due to the war and have had to build a new community. So, although learning English is important, even more important is meeting others, socialising and building a new community. Maybe this wouldn't be as easy in a more formal classroom environment. When I asked the group for their goals it was simply to be able to communicate a little in English, which is certainly what we did. It's hard to imagine that this group of people probably didn't know each other before the war.


To return to flour, this is is the subject of some concern at Hell's Kitchen, which relies on donations, because we have lost our flour donor. Last week we were in the unusual position of having no flour, until the remainder of a World Food Programme donation was delivered and speedily stacked, by a chain of volunteers and Liuda, whose push-up regime pays off!




We have enough flour to last for about 6 weeks, I think, during which time we're hoping that a solution will be found. It's so important that we can continue to supply bread to hospitals in the city.

The Kharkiv regional governor, Oleg Synegubov, announced evacuations of children from several towns in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, threatened by intensified hostile shelling by Russian forces: 267 children and their families were evacuated from 16 settlements to safe places. 

There are some photos which manage to portray both the horror and normality of war at the same time. This is Zolochiv, a rural settlement north of Kharkiv, which is frequently attacked by Russia.

(Photo from Suspilne online news)

The following link contains award-wininning photos that also juxtapose some scenes of normal life and celebration, alongide scenes of destruction. There are a number of photos of Kharkiv, two taken in a maternity hosptal that continues to function, despite receiving repeated bomb damage. One of the Hell's Kitchen volunteers works in a maternity hospital.

Life continues in Kharkiv city with almost continuous air raid sirens, drone raids and bombings, which appear to have intensified, countrywide, during Trump's first week in office. Russia fired 1,250 aerial bombs, over 750 attack drones and 20 missiles at Ukraine in the last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 26 Jan. The attacks targeted Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. 

However, Kharkiv contines to be one of the main "safe places" to which families and children are evacuated. These families' lives can be improved in small ways by donations, such as this family, supported by the charity, Adults For Children, which received a second hand laptop from one of the Hell's Kitchen volunteers.


To make a donation, please:

Open PayPal and, when asked for email, enter sunflower_house@hotmail.co.uk




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