My name is Yevhenii and I am from Mykhailo-Kotsyubynske village in Chernihiv oblast. After February 24, my village was occupied for 35 days. During that time I stayed at home and did not leave anywhere. Imagine what it’s like to be without water and electricity for weeks, with constant explosions. This is the occupation by the Russian Federation.

During this time, we all lived without knowing what would happen tomorrow. We just had to survive and wait, to understand that all your plans for life are over. All this is very terrible. During the occupation, an enemy rocket hit my school. Two weeks after the liberation from enemies, my school continued in the surviving part of the building.

Only after the de-occupation could we all return to our previous life. However, I realized that it was time to work on changes in my native village. It all started with my participation in the UActive program, where my team and I implemented the “Sportek Gym” project. Our village is famous for its sports. Several dozen masters of sports, Olympic and Paralympic Games athletes, and biathlon and cycling champions have all come from here. Since our only playground where people played sports was destroyed by a rocket, we decided to create an alternative space for athletes.

Thanks to the joint work of the team and perseverance, we won a grant in the UActive program. Now we have a gym with constant attendance. I am inspired by the fact that both the youth and the older generation come to us. There are even grandfathers who still play sports. In general, the average attendance is 7 people per day.

After experience in the UActive program, my friend Ivan and I realized that we should continue to help our local community. In the same summer we implemented the sports project, we took part in another grant competition. We created a youth non-government organization, “Vereb.” During the entire period, we won more than one grant. We attracted about one million hryvnias: from businesses, local politicians, and public organizations. Now we want to create a social enterprise for processing plastic into filament. There are plans to expand to other local communities. But for now, we are participating in a grant program where we can win funds to implement this idea.

Now I am also a member of the working group at the UN Development Program.

My team and I have a lot of work ahead of us. For me, it is important to bring my benefit to the organization and to acquire new connections and partnerships. Even though I was in the graduating class, where I was greeted by a lot of preparation for exams and solemn events, I did not give up and did not lose the drive to work for the benefit of my village. My local community and my school should develop, not just wait for their extinction. We all know how difficult it is now for the villages in Ukraine, and especially for their schools, which suffered from the russians. It shouldn’t be like that, that’s why we are moving forward to change that.