In a quiet boulevard within the Ukrainian capital, youngsters attempt to omit the tales they pay attention concerning the struggle. To assist them cope, each and every Saturday, team classes are organised through the Voices of Children NGO.
“It’s a kind of fairy tale world that is created here for an hour where the children don’t feel the stress,”says psychologist, Iryna Zhadik. “It’s mainly about releasing psychological pressure.”
The children can also consult the psychologists privately. Anna is worried about her future.
“Everything is somehow blurred and I don’t know how to plan my future at all,” she explains. “I can’t plan anything because I understand that something can fall near my home at any moment because I live between two military bases.”
The centre’s psychologists were internally displaced from the war-torn eastern regions of the country. Being displaced only increases distress, says Liudmyla, who came to Kyiv with her son after fleeing their home in Luhansk.
Psychologists say emotional trauma is on the rise among the population, especially in the occupied regions.
“More people are coming to see us since the autumn. More people with depression. We now call itthe ‘anniversary syndrome’ We realize that it’s because of the anniversary (of the invasion), but there’s no light at the end of the tunnel,” says Liudmyla.
I requested one 10-year-old boy, Nazar, what was once his largest dream?
“The biggest one is to go back home, for Ukraine to be free, and for Russia to…die,” he says. “My major dream is to go back house. I pass over it so much. It’s actually painful. For each my soul and my thoughts.”
