Two forced migrants from Ukraine, Olha Pykhova and Karina Hakharia, opened “Sikvaruli – Center for Extracurricular Education” in Georgia – an educational space for Ukrainian children in Georgia.

We talked about the work of the “Sikvaruli” center with one of its founders – Karina Hakharia from Melitopol.

Karina said that she was forced to move to Georgia due to the occupation of her native city of Melitopol. There, the woman worked in a school for Ukrainian children, as well as in the “Sunflower” women’s project. However, in view of the large demand for the creation of a Ukrainian-speaking children’s center, she, as an educator, decided to found her own after-school learning center “Sikvaruli”. The main goal, Karina says, is to promote the Ukrainian language, to give children a quality education and the opportunity to feel at home.

Now the institution covers the following areas:

• art workshops for women and girls aged 16 and over;
• master classes for 6–12-year-old children;
• summer thematic camp “Travel around the countries of the world”;
• art course for children;
• improving the level of subjects’ knowledge for children in grades 1-3;
• English language classes.

Karina emphasizes: “I think that the most important thing is that the children feel at home, at their Ukrainian institution. They reminisce a lot about their lives, they say: like my home in Ukraine. Moreover, after such words, you think that this is probably the goal—to make the children feel at home. I think that if there are more such centers and Ukrainian centers in any country, it will be very cool and it really heals the soul. It makes it possible to get what you might have temporarily lost.”