Viktoria Horodynska from Mykolayivka was 14 years when the war started in her town. Prior to the war, ordinary Donbas teenagers probably would not ask themselves what is Ukraine, which role it plays in their lives, and which role they play in the future of their country. However, the war asked all of these questions. It made teenagers like Viktoria mature earlier.
Back in 2014, hundreds of volunteers from across Ukraine came to free Donbas to launch a dialogue with the locals and to make up for lost time. It was the New Donbas initiative that came to Viktoria’s school to repair it. However, the most important part of the initiative’s work was communicating with kids and teenagers through different workshops, and involving them in different creative initiatives.
Later, the teenagers of the school, including Viktoria were depicted in the documentary School Number Three by the directors Yelizaveta Smith and Georg Genoux.
Read also:
How war changed a teenager’s life for the better
The Berlinale Grand Prix film from Ukraine tells a different story of the Donbas
Six years after, Viktoria is studying to become a film director in Kyiv, and from time to time is involved in creative projects for teenagers from Donbas as a volunteer herself.
“Probably, my dream is to help someone in the same way that I was helped,” Viktoria says.
https://www.facebook.com/euromaidanpress.en/videos/322680039136207/?__xts__[0]=68.ARCdeWJSINbQGsOXmU_SQtX31o4Ekutz1R6zkDNyKYRJ54R_kbKX_X7EL93cneos7gQXA2vtq07FCRUHF0Iiu8azoRtaQAkJenAlz9SspcKKW8UoqZKwd3fRdqJ4shFLFTrnkSz08GAynkLVhuzBKqRu3_4gAayCDm4-s71mCmyCjTali1qtwdlJmSRVDLXs-KvtH-1N2krN-UstvlLiYNslV4-3tV0-gyV_9sOzx9Y2YexljfvOo4LxKOTotoiGYdHfqbsSVWrRSb47pHTWmD7YfcxRPwbDmqr-VyVgj8OjdZ2V6teYOE33FVk06QTxQV5Lw7IWOTybcLiyLr6RLWvjAHGyLtB9Gb08Hg&__tn__=-R
Video
Journalist: Olena Makarenko
Camera: Oleksandr Portian, Viktoria Horodynska
Video editor: Oleksandr Portian
Subtitles editor: Alya Shandra
Music: YouTube Music Library
Also for this video were used:
Photos from Viktoria Horodynska’s private archive,
Photos from the City to Go project,
Video from the New Donbas NGO,
Video of Kostyantyn Kliatskin,
Video from the trailer of the documentary School #3 (Tabor Production)
Read also:
Read also:
- Bringing democracy to Shchastia, traumatized war-town with a happy name
- German NGO strengthens civil society in Sloviansk, first victim of “Russian Spring”
- From “Russian world” supporter to Ukrainian patriot: a story of a Donbas girl’s worldview transformation
- Exchange programs dispel destructive myths, bridge east-west divide in Ukraine
- Oleksandra Dvoretska: We IDPs have a motivation – to return Crimea and Donbas
- Quarter of Ukrainian IDPs suffer from depression, few get help
- The Ukrainian IDPs who started over from scratch
- How Eastern Ukraine IDPs succeed in business after escaping the war
- Shyrokyne: Ruined front-line village and people who still hope to return home