"We made cutlets from wheat porridge"

Olena Karpenko met the full-scale war in her native Kharkiv, in Saltovka. It was noisy there from the first hours of the invasion. Olena and her large family moved to the suburbs of Kharkiv, to the village of Babai, where it was safer. They returned home in May. The Karpenko family's apartment was the only one in the entire apartment block with windows intact, and out of all the residents, only four elderly women remained.

But gradually, Saltivka began to revive. Neighbours returned and repaired the house. People got used to the shelling and continued to live a full life.  

Olena Karpenko is the director of Pisochyn Nadiya Primary School in Pisochyn near Kharkiv. On February 28, 2022, a shell hit the building of the school. Stars could be seen through the broken roof, 46 windows were smashed and the facade was damaged, but everything was repaired very quickly. We were ready to welcome the children even on September 1, 2022, but due to the security situation, children in Pisochyn study only online. So Olena Karpenko and the entire teaching staff of Nadiya are waiting for the victory and the children's return to school life. 

Despite the distance learning, the children from Nadiya and their teachers took part in an essay competition organised by the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Olena Karpenko became one of the winners.