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[[There are more than 8 million Ukrainian refugees in Europe, according to the U.N., and Natalia Rovitska is one of them. Before the war, she was the principal of one of the best schools in Mariupol. After the Russian army destroyed her school and apartment, she managed to flee to Poland, where she works in a Ukrainian school in Warsaw and, through remote teaching, helps keep Mariupol alive. Lesia Bakalets has her story.
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptUKR 1YR POLAND UKRAINE TEACHER
HEADLINE: Ukrainian Teacher Helps Keep Mariupol Schools Alive
TEASER: Natalia Rovitska is helping keep her old school — and her city — alive through remote teaching
PUBLISHED: 2/23/23, 4:08p
BYLINE: Lesia Bakalets
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Warsaw, Poland
VIDEOGRAPHER: Daniil Batushchak, Agency
SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS
PRODUCER: .
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA ORIGINAL, REUTERS
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:03
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TV PKG
UPDATE:))
((INTRO:))
[[There are more than 8 million Ukrainian refugees in Europe, according to the U.N., and Natalia Rovitska is one of them. Before the war, she was the principal of one of the best schools in Mariupol. After the Russian army destroyed her school and apartment, she managed to flee to Poland, where she works in a Ukrainian school in Warsaw and, through remote teaching, helps keep Mariupol alive. Lesia Bakalets has her story.]]
((NARRATION))
Natalia Rovitska has been living in Warsaw for about a year. She still dreams about her hometown, Mariupol, a southern port city in Ukraine.
[[RADIO VERSION: She was principal of Mariupol School Number 66, a role she maintains remotely from Poland.]]
((Natalia Rovitska, School Principal - FEMALE IN UKRAINIAN))
“I dream of school, where I used to work, my house, my apartment, and my friends. Also, I have dreams about the sea. Our Sea of Azov in Mariupol.”
((NARRATOR))
Natalia remembers the first day of the war. That day, she thought it was another escalation in the conflict between Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. Mariupol had been a frontline city between the two sides since 2014. Russia took control of Mariupol in May.
((Natalia Rovitska, School Principal - FEMALE IN UKRAINIAN))
“At 5 o'clock in the morning, a neighbor came to me. She woke us up and said, 'The war is starting. We are leaving. Come with us.' But we stayed.”
((NARRATOR)) ((Courtesy: Mariupol TV)) As the principal of Mariupol School Number 66, she went to see if it had been damaged. ((end courtesy))
((Natalia Rovitska, School Principal - FEMALE IN UKRAINIAN))
“And at eight in the morning, my husband and I went to school. My deputies came. We cleaned up the school, collected all the equipment, folded everything, and hid documents.”
((NARRATOR))
That was the last time Natalia saw the school. Then Russia shelling the city …
((Natalia Rovitska, School Principal - FEMALE IN UKRAINIAN))
“We stood on the balcony when one of these planes flew and dropped a bomb on the city council building. We saw it directly. And this explosive wave took us from the balcony to the corridor through our bedroom.”
((NARRATION))
Natalia and her husband decided to flee the city.
It was a long way through checkpoints to Ukrainian-controlled territory, to the west of the country and then to Poland.
((Natalia Rovitska, School Principal - FEMALE IN UKRAINIAN))
“Please, sit down!”
((NARRATION))
Now in Warsaw, Natalia works as a chemistry teacher at a Ukrainian school.
There are more than one million war refugees in Poland. Many of them are women and children.
((AUDIO UP, NATALIA SPEAKING))
((Natalia Rovitska, Ukrainian Refugee - FEMALE IN UKRAINIAN))
“Many children have emotional stress because of the war. These children are vulnerable, especially young ones. When we opened this school, it was quiet during the breaks. Nobody runs or shouts. It was weird for us. Sometime later, the breaks started to look like normal ones. That indicated that the children have adapted and are doing well in this school.”
((NARRATION))
After her working day in Warsaw, Natalia starts online lessons for students back at Mariupol School #66. The school reopened several months ago for distance learning.
((Natalia Rovitska, School Principal - FEMALE IN UKRAINIAN))
“Currently, 1,100 children study online in our Mariupol school. In total, seven schools were opened in Mariupol – this is distance learning for those children who are in Ukraine or Europe. As long as our schools are working and our children are studying, our city is alive.”
((NARRATION))
Natalia dreams of returning home to Mariupol. ((Mandatory CG: Natalia Rovitska)) Her apartment is ruined, her school is among two thousand in Ukraine that is badly damaged. ((end courtesy)) But once the Russian-occupied city is held by Ukraine again, she holds out hope that everything will be rebuilt.
((Lesia Bakalets, for VOA News, Warsaw.))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Warsaw, Poland
Embargo DateFebruary 23, 2023 18:56 EST
Byline((Lesia Bakalets, for VOA News, Warsaw.))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
