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!
How Parents of Children with Disabilities Volunteer and Support the Armed Forces of Ukraine!
This volunteer group is quite out of the ordinary. Mothers lead their children by hand or bring them in wheelchairs and together, they set to work weaving camouflage nets… Or, while their children are in classes, they sit down at sewing machines and sew hats, scarves, gloves, and balaclavas for Ukrainian soldiers. In the workshop, sewing machines clack away, playing a symphony of resilience and inexhaustible strength!
“Inclusive society is exactly like this. Having a child with disabilities doesn’t mean you stop being a Ukrainian, a patriot of your country, and its citizen. Yes, things might be a bit harder for you – but nevertheless, you must help in any way you can,” say representatives of the organization.
Meet the incredible volunteers from the Chernihiv organization “Voice of Parents,” founded by parents of children with special needs.
Inclusive Society: We Are Different – But Equal!
“Why ‘Parents’ Voice’? To ensure that the voices of parents of children with disabilities are not lonely solos but become a harmonious choir, to be heard,” explains Oksana Doroshenko, the head of the NGO “Parents’ Voice.”
“Children with disabilities often don’t attend school regularly and study individually – in these cases, their opportunities for socialization, for communicating with peers and different people, are very limited, and even more so after they finish their education. To provide them with these opportunities and to support the parents of such children, our organization created the day care group ‘Hive’ for children with severe disabilities.
‘The Invisible Children’ – that’s usually about them. Unfortunately, most children with disabilities remain ‘invisible’ in society. Where are they? Who are they? What do they do? Why don’t they ‘go out into the world’? They are neither seen nor heard. They live in ‘apartments,’ and their buildings don’t have ramps. We want to show that these children are here, right beside us. And that nothing is impossible for them or for us… This is why we created our organization ‘Parents’ Voice’ – to build an inclusive society, to unite families raising children with disabilities, and to show how we can be stronger together. The group has been operating for seven years now,” shares Ms. Oksana. “A representative of the organization accompanies the children to activities, while the mothers weave nets or sew balaclavas for the military.
Children from the age of ten attend our sessions, with our oldest group members nearly forty years old. Our activities are diverse – the children prepare theatrical productions, create artwork, and together we make gifts for the defenders – drawings, various crafts, and the children write letters: ‘Our soldier, we are with you,’ ‘Thank you for saving us’ – simple and unpretentious, but very sincere words.
Recently, our children performed their play to the public – and when people came after their performance, happy, thanking – it was an opportunity for them to feel useful and needed by society. No one wants to be pitied – they want to be respected. And this is about inclusivity, about how we are all different – but equal.
The number of people wanting to join our day group increases every year – now, the groups barely have enough space for all interested. Is it difficult? Yes, it’s not easy. Especially considering that last year we had no funding at all – after the de-occupation of the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, our social workers worked on a volunteer basis for a year – we simply could not leave the children after what they had to endure: explosions, bombings, children in wheelchairs not leaving the basement for weeks, some ended up under occupation…”
The Community of the Unbreakable: How Parents of Children with Disabilities Volunteer
“When the siege of Chernihiv, Ukraine, ended and some of the families who had left returned to the city, we gathered together to decide – what do we do now? Everyone was disheartened and bewildered, unsure of what the future held. But we knew that sitting at home doing nothing would not help us overcome this state… And our social workers said that even without funding, on a volunteer basis, they wanted to help the children and work with them. And the mothers decided they didn’t want to sit idly by; they wanted to help and contribute to victory in every way they could!
Our organization’s facility has sewing machines – we used them to sew eco-friendly tote bags to sell and raise funds for repairing our bus damaged by shelling. Now, the mothers who bring their children to our sessions sew underwear for the military, gloves, hats, scarves, camouflage suits. We’ve sent them to our defenders, who appreciated the quality and now we have regular orders from various units: ‘Your balaclavas were highly praised by our guys, can you sew some for our unit too?’ And we sew… In one room, we’ve set up a base – there’s our ‘workshop’ for weaving camouflage nets. The children are in their session – and the mothers cut ribbons, weave nets… Or they just come to us in their free time with their children – to be together, talk, and join in on the good deed.
Such joint work is not only a help to our military but also a sort of ‘volunteering therapy’ for all of us: when you see that you too can contribute, help, feel your involvement in bringing victory closer, it gives you strength and motivation! Volunteering unites: we’ve also been joined by clients of the territorial social service center: elderly people visited us once, twice, and now we have regular helpers from among them… Those who cannot weave cut ribbons, and they weave mats, bring us socks – it’s incredible help and moral support! We’ve created such an incredibly warm, familial atmosphere – an atmosphere of support and goodness, that when someone is feeling down, they come over, spend time with the kids, weave a net, sit at the sewing machine – and it already feels better.
The count of everything sewn and knitted has gone not just into hundreds – but thousands!
When we gathered as an initiative group a year and a half ago to help our military, we didn’t even expect that so many of us would come together – we thought it would be a ‘tiny flock’, but everyone incredibly united and got to work! If anyone wants to join, we are always welcome!”
I couldn’t help but ask Mrs. Oksana about the incredible sacrifice of our people – after all, when parents who fight every day for the health of their children, when a mother brings her child in a wheelchair and knits a camouflage net next to them, it’s deeply moving, showcasing incredible examples of humanity and resilience!
“I think all of us Ukrainians are like this!” Mrs. Oksana smiles. “Just because you have a child with a disability, you haven’t stopped being a Ukrainian, a patriot of your country and its citizen. Yes, it’s a bit harder for you – but nonetheless, you must help everyone to the best of your ability… Parents of children with disabilities face a ‘war squared’ every day, and by helping others, they find support and solace in it. Previously, we all together overcame one kind of hardship, and now circumstances have changed, but we haven’t, we’re together! And that’s our ‘superpower'”.
Everyday Battle, Collective Victory
“In our organization, there’s a family raising a child with a disability. Last spring, during the siege of Chernihiv, their home was severely damaged. Yet, they haven’t lost hope – their strength, love, warmth, and zest for life are so profound that they’re not only rebuilding their home but also continuing to engage their daughter in various activities, and have even taken in children who were deprived of parental care. Then there’s a mother who single-handedly raises two children, one of whom has a severe disability, while also caring for her elderly mother, whose home in a nearby village was completely destroyed… Despite all this, she actively participates in sewing balaclavas and gloves for the military at our center, comes to sew with us and even takes work home. How can one not be inspired by such people?
And there’s a mother, who doesn’t have children with disabilities, but she’s very active in the life of our organization: she participates in all our initiatives, a professional seamstress and pattern maker, she organized the work of our volunteer sewing workshop. Indeed, this is an example of an inclusive society, the best illustration of our main idea we try to convey to people: there are no barriers except those that exist in people’s minds. There are no children with disabilities and ‘normal’ children, there are just children. We want to change the distorted perception of disability as something that only evokes sadness and sympathy – in reality, it’s just one of the forms of life, where children have their joys, interactions, feelings…
The children who come to our sessions are so bright, open, without any guile. They have so much love for the world and readiness to love… And if society overcomes its fear of people with disabilities – be it physical, mental, then they will be able to receive a boost of positivity, energy, and love – because these children have so much of it! Maybe, that’s why they live among us – to give us this love…”
