Students at our Botosani School for Ukrainian refugees in Romania continue to thrive. Located on the top floor of a home and community center for refugees created and managed by our partners United Aid Foundation (UAF), the OGV school provides all-day classes and lunch for 20-25 students, plus daily Romanian and English lessons for other refugee students attending a local Romanian school. Other displaced students use the school’s computers for remote online classes with teachers who remain in Ukraine. Unfortunately, those students have their studies interrupted quite often due to air raid sirens in Ukraine, since their teachers are in areas experiencing heavy fighting.

In addition to the school supported by One Global Village, the house is a gathering place for local refugee families, a place for aid organizations to meet with families, and a distribution center for food that UAF provides to 90 families each month. The food is particularly crucial since many mothers have been unable to find work yet and their husbands are not allowed to leave Ukraine. United Nations representatives have provided a few household items such as pillows, a cooking pan for each family, and baby wipes. Other organizations including Save the Children and World Vision have met with these displaced families, but have not provided assistance.

While there is a lot of stress and anxiety among the refugee mothers, there is a considerable amount of hope and gratitude. A Ukrainian psychologist whose grandchildren are at the house, who is working with the students and their mothers, describes the house as “magical.” She says it is as if the walls are there to support them and provide a daily hug. 

The children at the Botosani School are learning, nourished, creating art, sharing joy, and adjusting well to life in their new village in Romania. They will need strength and resilience when they finally return home to rebuild their country. As one 12 year-old girl named Liza said, “the war has taught me a lot of things. Sometimes things go the way you want them to, sometimes things are terrible. But you have to deal with it, because this is war, and this is life.”