Olena

What is your name? What was your life like before 24 February 2022? What did you do, what did you live for, what did you dream about?

My name is Olena Havrylenko and I am from the city of Kropyvnytskyi.

Until 24 February 2022 my life was good, interesting and stable. It was a family — a husband, two children and a cat. It was the post of regional director of a brokerage company in insurance services. It was a wide circle of friends, acquaintances and colleagues.

It was travel, and the dream of building a house of our own. And by then it was no longer only a dream — there was a real design, and the building work was due to begin in the spring of 2022…

What changed for you on 24 February? Where were you? What do you remember about that day?

That day we were all at home. Our elder daughter had come to us for the holidays; she was studying in Slovakia at the time.

An ordinary day, which began in a way that was not ordinary at all…

The drone of aircraft. The first call from a colleague: “…the war has started…”. Then there were many more calls, from friends and from people we knew.

What decision did you make after that — and why?

We decided at once to leave home for somewhere safe.

The hardest part was packing what was most necessary: are these things for three days, or for the rest of our lives?

Later we understood that all of it was far more serious than we had been able to imagine.

That is how we ended up in Slovakia, where our daughter had somewhere to live and a life already up and running.

What is your role today?

From the moment we arrived in Slovakia, there was a need to do something, to help somehow the people who were fleeing the war.

That is how I found myself at the international charity Caritas, which until then I had known nothing about at all.

That is how my volunteering began — 24/7, helping others.

Today, in the fifth year of the war, I am still a volunteer, but on a different plane. It is helping people integrate into a new life, keep their identity in another country, and carry Ukrainian culture and values forward while living in emigration.

What changed inside you over these years? What did you lose? What did you find? Who did you become?

Of course, all of us have changed a great deal. War changes this world, and values, and people.

Our attitude to life changed, because life can be cut off in a single moment.

Our idea of what is necessary changed — now it fits into one suitcase.

We learned to survive and to adapt to new circumstances. We picked up new skills and even new professions. We found new friends and people who think as we do.

We became different people.

What do Ukraine / freedom / independence mean to you today?

For me, independence is the possibility of free choice.

A person’s independence is being able to choose freely — a profession, a job, a partner, a way of living, the people around you, and much more.

A country’s independence is being able to have its own language, its own culture, its own values and traditions, to have a path of its own and to decide on its own development.

That is why independence matters so much to us. We try to hold on to it and pass it from one generation to the next — and we pay so dearly for it.

What from Ukraine are you trying to preserve where you live now?

It is our language! Nothing is such a joy as hearing your own people beside you.

It is the symbols — the flag, the ornaments, the embroidered shirt. It is Ukrainian films and music.

And of course the food — the feeling of home, somewhere below conscious thought.

What do you do for Ukraine today — even if you are far away from it?

It is volunteering, aimed at helping and supporting the people who have been forced to live in emigration.

It is developing Ukrainian culture abroad and carrying it further.

It is donations, and help for the soldiers.

It is daily work, so that Ukrainians abroad do not lose their connection to their own country.

What would you like someone who sees your story to understand about Ukraine?

That Ukraine is first of all good, sincere, open and generous people, who want to live peacefully in their own country.

It is the best land, given by God.

We need no other.