I am the author of the Goodacity blog, a journalist, and a translator. For 16 years, I have worked in professional journalism, contributing to regional and national publications, both in print and online media. I have written reports, conducted interviews, reviews, articles on cultural, social, and charitable topics, as well as materials in the style of "solution journalism" and communication materials.
My focus is on creating interesting and exclusive content. Journalism, to me, is primarily about human stories, to which I always find the key, empathize with the people I write about, and love all my heroes. Journalism, to me, means telling people about what truly matters to them, informing and inspiring them. It is not just a job, but a way of life, just like for all those who dream, create, and are inspired by it.
So, if you are looking for stories that inspire and motivate, that instill faith and help find meaning while believing in goodness, read my stories on the Goodacity website.
I am a manager of cultural affairs and a project manager with over 14 years of experience at United Thinkers. I have participated in the organization of numerous successful social and charitable projects and have implemented informational campaigns and communication cases.
As a marketing manager, I have been involved in organizing marketing and sociological research, working with media and partners, developing advertising and marketing strategies, as well as planning and implementing advertising campaigns.
I believe in the power of goodness and I am happy that as part of the Goodacity project, I can contribute to its expansion. I believe in the power of words and in the fact that communication can help make the world a better place. I know how, where and when to speak in order to be heard. And when you are heard, you can change the world!
The Two Battles of Volunteer Svitlana
“Call Svitlana.” These two words serve as a kind of code for those in need of help.
“My phone is ‘red’ all day,” laughs Mrs. Svitlana.
“See a family in trouble needing help – call Svitlana; requests from the military come in – call Svitlana; heard about a cancer diagnosis and don’t know how to move on – call Svitlana, she will help, as she herself has gone through this… And many more life examples and situations where the answer is – ‘call Svitlana’…
And people call. And we talk, solve, search, help…
Here, a box of medicines was sent to the palliative care department of the Chernihiv cancer center – to ease someone’s last days of life, there, a van was loaded for the military in the East, Ukraine, and here, help was given to a mother of many children who was diagnosed with cancer…”.
To call our interlocutor “a well-known Chernihiv volunteer” is to say less than a tenth of what she does! To say she is a strong woman is also to say very little… When you are fighting two wars, it describes every day of her life: her spirit is strong enough to fight cancer with all her might while volunteering and helping others! Her story is about how cancer is not a death sentence and how to never give up and win!
Knitting Socks for the Front Lines During Chemotherapy!
“When the Ukrainian-Russian war started in 2014, my son volunteered for the front,” shares Mrs. Svitlana. “He is now an officer serving in the aviation, in addition to his two higher engineering degrees, he also obtained a third, military one… My husband is also military, he was involved in aviation, now he’s retired. As for me, I took up volunteering – to help hundreds of boys like him who were the first to defend Ukraine.
This, so to speak, was my first war, and when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 – perhaps all the stress and tears took their toll – another war began… A war squared… But, you know what incredibly supported and moved me? The same military personnel to whom I had been sending packages to the front all the previous years – they were the first to start helping me!
Then came the surgery, chemotherapy… Getting through this toughest period was made possible by the support of the “Amazons” organization and its leader – the incredible Larisa Lopata. Up to the full-scale war, we communicated a lot and supported each other, also traveled together for special training, thematic conferences, vacations, or psychological “decompression,” helped those in need, explained that cancer is not a sentence. Unfortunately, due to the full-scale Russian invasion, we do not meet as often as we would like, but people in need remain – and I have taken it upon myself to do everything in my power for them… I help with whatever I can – clothes, medicines, all necessities. And at the border, I have “ward” families, and large families, and military, and cancer center patients – everyone! I can’t say no to anyone… Every day I rush somewhere with help – to the cancer center with medicines and care products, to send packages to the front for our boys, to deliver aid to families in need… I love and worry about everyone!
And how could I not help: just imagine, a girl-medic from the cancer center went to the front to help her husband, she is now a combat medic…
And I’m her “liaison” – we try to help as we can, meet various needs… Today I sent warm clothes to our boys, tomorrow I will go to a woman who knits adaptive socks, I will distribute them in hospitals, then – together with Olya Mamayeva we deliver necessary medicine to military medical points…
You know, maybe, all this – is a drop in the ocean. But even this handful of medicines will ease someone’s pain, these few dozen socks will warm someone… When I started volunteering in 2014, I just thought: I know nothing about my son – whether he is cold or hungry right now… I will take care of boys like him, and maybe, someone will take care of my son, someone will help him too…
Even during chemotherapy, I knitted socks for the front, so actively that for a while afterward I couldn’t even look at yarn and needles… But to everyone who helped me with treatment, who sent money, I knitted and sent gloves to warm people for their kindness.
And when after the full-scale invasion I went for treatment in Germany, I also knitted there – with patriotic prints. I bought yarn and knitted yellow-blue sets – hats, scarves, and gave them to Germans – the local community took up actively helping. I brought souvenirs, flags from our military there, and back to Chernihiv – refrigerators for medicines, power banks, canned food for our military. Everything the local community helps us with, then goes to hospitals or the front. We’re constantly doing something – it’s a cycle of kind people and deeds! A friend – a girl from Kharkov, now in Italy with her son, paints pictures, sends them to Germany, we sell them there and with the funds raised, we’ve bought a car for the military.
You ask where I find the time and energy? There’s never enough time, and the energy… A person is made up of what they give. That’s where I draw my energy from. If I sat at home all the time thinking about my disease, fretting, I probably would have given up by now – would be sicker, in more pain… But here I am thinking and caring for others – and it fills me.”
Cancer is Not a Sentence: Ask Not "Why Me?" but "What For?"
The full-scale invasion has overshadowed cancer diseases, yet they haven’t disappeared. Cancer patients need our help now more than ever, as cancer doesn’t retreat even when missiles fly… It’s become much harder to receive treatment, but we’re holding on. We, the volunteer girls, used to walk through the wards of the Chernihiv cancer center, talk to the patients, calm them down, and explain that life doesn’t end when you hear “You have cancer…” because cancer is not a sentence. That treatment is hard, but recovery is worth it!
That not only do you need your family’s support, but they need yours too… That you shouldn’t hide your diagnosis from others. That you need to have an understanding and a clear treatment plan. There’s so much that no one but those who’ve gone through it themselves can tell you and explain… In general, the topic of cancer diseases is barely discussed in our society. People still know too little about prevention, simply don’t know how to communicate with someone who’s received such a diagnosis, how to support and encourage them.
We, cancer patients, don’t say – “why me”, “why all this”? You should ask not “why”, but – “what for”? Perhaps, to rethink your life – that’s what happened to me…
They say, war is a litmus test, it makes you re-evaluate your values and priorities, rethink your life. Cancer is also a litmus test… And it’s also a war – you’re launching a counterattack and freeing your own body from the enemy.
I have so many plans and interesting projects ahead – for the military and for people fighting cancer.
I have a degree in recreation: as a professional masseuse, before the big war, I used to give free recovery massages to the military – planning to resume this. I want to help even more, in more areas. Today I help someone, tomorrow they help me – that’s how we live…
When our Oleksandrivka, Ukraine, was under occupation in the first month of the “full-scale,” sitting in a basement – it was terrifying. And when I managed to get out, friends and acquaintances were happier for me than I was for myself. I went to Kyiv, Ukraine, got medicine, and… returned home. I took care of many families whose homes were destroyed, looked after animals, I couldn’t have left them… Russian tanks just drove through our streets, destroyed everything – no water, no gas, no light. Surviving all this was incredibly hard…
After everything you’ve gone through, you realize you live day by day. And this day should pass so that you’ve done as much good as possible – for someone else, not just for yourself. To help, to leave something good behind. That’s how I try to live. There’s no other way…
