When the desire is stronger than the danger: challenges and joy in Ukraine

When the desire is stronger than the danger: challenges and joy in Ukraine

Every year, AIESEC offers volunteer internships in as many as 126 countries. Milda Juškaitė is one of the participants who took up this challenge. She talks about her experience during an internship in Ukraine, the main purpose of which was to teach English to children living in orphanages.

1. How did you find out about the internship in general?

I joined AIESEC in October. I sold internships for two months, offered to go there, so I wanted to try them myself. In December, I started looking for the most suitable internship for me. Since I study at VMU (formerly Vytautas Magnus University) and we have a free month in January, I thought I needed to find somewhere although I had to travel during this period. AIESEC internships last 6 weeks – it was an ideal amount of time, so I left for Ukraine in mid-December.

2. What attracted your attention to this country that made you choose it?

First of all, the country was not important, because I chose based on the internship itself. I chose between Hungary and Ukraine. The description of the internship in Ukraine attracted more attention than in Hungary. In Ukraine, I had to do an internship in a children's home - I taught them English. Of course, strikes and other conflicts had already started at that time. It is known that my parents were worried and said "Milda, be careful, maybe don't go". But I really wanted to.

3. What did you want most when you went on this internship?

I wanted to try something new in my life. So I decided to go anyway. I wanted a challenge and I just wanted to improve my skills, because I'm studying English. And what's the best way to learn a language? To speak it for a long time. I thought I needed to go abroad. It was a big challenge - also because of the Russian language, which I didn't speak at all. True, I didn't speak either Russian or Ukrainian. And I lived in a Ukrainian family who didn't speak English.

4. How was the preparation for the internship?

AIESEC organized a preparatory seminar, where they tell you how to avoid culture shock if you are going to a non-European country, how to get help, what to know. In short, they introduce you to the most important things.

For example, I didn’t need a visa, because you don’t need a visa to travel from Lithuania to Ukraine. I bought the tickets in the last few days, they weren’t very expensive, so I only spent a few hundred. Also, I lived with a family and they didn’t let me buy anything – no food, nothing. I asked what I could buy, how I could contribute, but they did everything themselves. I even got up later than the other family members, so their mother even brought me coffee in bed. They really loved and cared for me.

5. Tell me more about the accommodation conditions.

I had my own separate room. The house was not very modern, but compared to the living conditions in Ukraine, it was very good to live in. In Lithuania it was a little better, but I had complete privacy, no one would come in. If I needed something, everyone would help. Another interesting fact stuck with me – the father of that family would clean the shoes of all the children, including mine. I would wake up for the first time in the morning and ask the daughter who cleaned the shoes. She would say, „Milda, I hope you’re not angry that dad cleaned the shoes – he has this habit of cleaning everyone’s shoes every evening.“.

6. What helped you cope with these challenges, especially when living in a family where you don't even know how to communicate?

The family I lived with was the best family there could be. I communicated with them without words. What I learned the most was body language. You don't need words for that, you just understand the person. I also forgot to mention that my project manager lived with that family. She was their daughter and she spoke English. Her mother didn't speak English, and neither did her brothers, but they tried very hard. She managed with Google Translate and into Lithuanian!

7. So you had to teach not only English, but also Lithuanian?
   Yes, and with funny incidents. I taught them to say goodnight and goodbye. Sometimes they mixed these words up. And there was their son in that family, who is 13 years old. Once before going to training he said to me "I'm going to the library, goodnight". It was really funny. But it's really nice that they tried so hard to establish a connection that I felt at home.
8. Speaking of funny stories, what other story do you remember that stuck with you?

Actually, I arrived in Ukraine on December 17. In Ukraine, Christmas is celebrated on January 5 or 6. Not on December 25 as is customary here. I told them about our traditions, that we celebrate Christmas on the 24th, I told them what we eat, etc. I return home on December 24, everyone is sitting at home and waiting for me and their daughter to return. They didn't have time to decorate a real Christmas tree, so they decorated it with lights, we all sat in my room and had Christmas dinner! It was very, very nice of them. I was amazed that they made such an effort for me. I also remembered the Ukrainian Christmas very much, because I celebrated it with the family I lived with and their grandparents. There was a large family and their reunion, which I also attended, so they talked about me and Lithuania all Christmas. I got to eat Ukrainian dishes, which I tasted for the first time in my life, learn about traditions and other things that you only learn for the first time in your life by living among those people and participating in those celebrations.

But the most memorable event was the one that had a very emotional impact, and probably not the most pleasant. It was mid-January and classes had already started. And the first people died in Kiev (author's note: Maidan events). One of the dead was a man from the place where I lived. It was evening and the Ukrainians were taking me somewhere, but I didn't really understand where yet. We went to the police department. The scene was that the guys and girls were shoveling snow and building barricades so that the police wouldn't go to Kiev. The police were forced to drive and restrain the Ukrainians. The scene had a very big impact. I didn't talk to anyone for 2 hours, I thought about how people were trying for their country, what I would do in their place, how I would fight, or would I fight. I was in a period that was quite painful in Ukraine. Every day we went to the city center, I saw people, Maidan. I heard people chanting. It was sad and scary to sit in a cafe and see tanks rolling by. Such events are truly shocking.

9. Military conflicts are a big and scary challenge, what other difficulties did you encounter during your internship?

One of the biggest difficulties, however, is the language barrier. As I said, I taught English in orphanages. There were six of them (author's note: orphanages). One of the orphanages was a boarding school. My colleague David from Brazil and I were with teachers or project managers the whole time, who translated for us. And once, when we were left alone, the children had to write a test and one girl started crying and we didn't understand why she was crying and, worst of all, we couldn't talk and didn't understand what was wrong with her. After 20 minutes of crying, we finally realized that she couldn't write. This language barrier, when you can't help because you don't understand, was the hardest. It was difficult to teach children English when you don't know Ukrainian. We are happy because there were children whom we were able to teach colors, numbers, sentences in English, because they are often unmotivated and they don't understand that the world revolves not only around Ukraine. They thought that all people know Ukrainian.

10. You mentioned a specific activity – teaching English – that you had to do during your internship. What other specific tasks did you do?

The name of our project was „Smile“. The very purpose of the internship was to teach children English and teach them in orphanages. We also gave more serious lessons, made presentations about Lithuania or other countries. There were Brazilians, so they made presentations about their country. We had various parties - played games. It was Christmas time, so there were no lessons for the children. We did handicrafts with them, folded origami, made Ukrainian dolls. Then we played with the children. Whatever was not related to the project, we spent a lot of time with people from another project. There were 8 interns from all over the world: a Singaporean, 3 Brazilians, a Hungarian, a Bulgarian, a Mexican, an Egyptian, many Chinese, four Georgians, a Turk. We went skiing with them to Bukovel (author's note). Bukovel) and the first time I skied there, I thought - I won't come back healthy, but everything ended happily (smiles). There were cultural evenings, we made presentations about the country. We just spent time together. It was interesting that we would get together and make a Singaporean, Egyptian dish. There were a lot of cultural things combined. There wasn't an evening when I wasn't at home. I was with the volunteers.

11. You talked about the difficulties, but also about the fun evenings and various outings. There must have been other advantages during the internship. What were they?

Yes! My English has improved a lot, I learned Ukrainian, and I made many new friends. One Brazilian friend came to Lithuania as well. What other pluses? I came back braver, more confident, I can cope with challenges more easily, and I gained new experience. These were the best 6 weeks of my life. What else can I say: before I left, many people said and asked how I would celebrate Christmas away from home. When I returned, I could confidently say that I had another family in Ukraine. They accepted me as a family member. Even the grandparents of that family themselves said that next year I should not only come myself, but also invited me to bring my family. When I left, they said, "We will wait for you." Just because I won't be home for the holidays doesn't mean they will be bad.

12. How did what you received during your internship meet your expectations before you left?

Before the trip, I thought it would be just 6 weeks away from home. Somehow I thought that I should expect less so that I wouldn't be disappointed. I didn't expect much, so I came back with a lot of positive emotions. If I had to name things I didn't like, there simply weren't any. Honestly, I couldn't find a single negative thing.

I was obsessed with the internship, everyone couldn't believe how wonderful it was there when I returned home. Although you can't compare the living conditions to home, even people weren't wealthy in Ukraine itself. The first car I saw was a Lada or a Moskvich. I had to drive around in such cars more than once. At the very beginning of the internship, my phone was stolen. But I also see a plus in that: everyone who came to the cafe wanted to get the Wifi password, and I talked to people. It's important to see the positive sides in every situation. Every action has its own reaction.

13. If we had the opportunity to go on this trip again, what would we choose?

After returning from volunteering, I say this: volunteering is like a tattoo - you come back and want a second one.

Thanks for the interview, Milda.

And if you would like to learn more about internship opportunities, information can be found here. http://aiesec.lt/ or contact this address kaunas@aiesec.lt.