In Anbetracht der fatalen Situation in der Ukraine, haben wir unser Etwinning-Projekt aus dem Schuljahr 2020/21 noch einmal eröffnet, damit unsere Schüler:innen und die unserer Projektpartnerschule in der Westukraine direkt miteinander kommunizieren können. Es gibt viele Fragen und Ängste und das natürliche Bedürfnis, all das ausdrücken zu können, unmittelbar informiert zu sein und sich in Anbetracht der eigenen Machtlosigkeit solidarisch zu zeigen. In einer solchen Situation tritt das Curriculum in den Hintergrund, unsere Kinder haben ein Recht auf Information und Teilhabe. Sie müssen und dürfen lernen, sich auch international zu positionieren und als Teil globaler Ereignisse zu erkennen. Es ist unsere Aufgabe, sie in diesem Prozess zu unterstützen und begleiten. Die ukrainische Kollegin, die das Etwinning an der Partnerschule begleitet, hat heute Nacht eine eindrückliche Nachricht per Whatsapp gesendet, die nachfolgend zu lesen ist. spe

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I couldn’t have even thought that we would live in times of war… It was very unexpected and unpredictable! On the 24th of February I was woken up by the phone call of a colleague who informed me about the attack in eastern and northern Ukraine. That day and on Friday we had online lessons. I was happy to see my students full of optimism and positive emotions. They have never seen war and learnt about it at the lessons of History only. And now the war came to our life. It is here. We started following the news 24 hours a day, sharing information in chats with relatives, friends, colleagues, students, students’ parents.
I was angry, desperate and worried. My daughter is a student at medical university in another city. She was there when it all started. Luckily, she got home, scared and shocked. The train arrived with 2 hours delay. Her teachers and fellow students who stayed there inform about frequent air alerts. They have to stay in shelters most of the time.
We live in western Ukraine and the citizens of our city, Khmelnyts’kyi, have always been against Russian policy. We follow Ukrainian traditions, speak Ukrainian language and value the history. That is why everybody is confident that the Russian world will never come to our city. I am constantly communicating with colleagues from all regions of Ukraine and nobody can see the reason for Russians to start “saving” our country from nazis. Ukraine is a free democratic state which has not asked anyone to rescue us.
The events are developing extremely fast and I hope, the peace will come to our land soon. Who could believe that the military airport in the neighboring town would be bombarded? It happened on Friday night and repeated on Saturday morning.
I was very happy and proud to see how solidary and reliable the Ukrainians are when I came to school on Saturday. We cooked dinner, gathered provision and clothes for refugees. When the teachers and parents were arranging temporary shelters for refugees in schools, we heard the first siren and it was not a test. I must confess, I was scared to death. It is Sunday today and we have had three air alerts already. I don’t know whether it is normal for a human, but I am getting used to these alerts. I am completely exhausted, angry and sad… I am writing these lines late in the evening and listening to the noise outside. Sometimes the police cars are heard signaling.
I am always in touch with my students. We are chatting. They seem to be not as optimistic as they were on Thursday. There is a boy who even mistook the days of the week. I try to support my students, tell them where to hide in case of alert. Some of them warn us sooner about the beginning and finish of alert than I do and these boys and girls tell each other what to do in case of emergency.
We don’t give up and believe that tomorrow will be a safe and peaceful day. I wish all humans love, happiness and mutual understanding.