Meet Russell Spencer and Ursula Groves– two generous individuals who have been supporting ChildFund Australia for nearly nine years.
Russell and Ursula have been long term supporters of Yen, aged 13, who lives in the Hoa Binh Province in Vietnam. They decided to donate computers to a primary and secondary school Yen attended so that more children could have a better education.
The students were thrilled to learn how to use the computers. One student at the secondary school, Chau aged 15, said: “When our school received the computers, I was very happy and excited. Before, when we didn’t have computers, we didn’t know how to look up the learning materials or find exercises. Now, we know how to look up learning resources and can learn more about the world around us.”
Changing education for communities of children
Russell and Ursula are passionate about providing learning opportunities to children. Initially they were interested in donating the computers because of Yen, but then they realised that they could help more children. Russell and Ursula both feel connected to Vietnam, its people and culture.
Happy with how well the computers were received by the students and teachers, Russell and Ursula decided to donate a second set to a separate school in the same province.
The school principal was so happy to receive the donation, sharing “I would like to say that we were so happy and pleased to receive your great gift, a computer room. The teachers and the students here dreamt of having them a long time ago, and now our dream has come true!”
Russell and Ursula know that other schools lacked these resources and believes in empowering every child with an education. Since setting up the computers, students have been learning typing and drawing skills. The children have been able to learn how to use the computers quickly and this has enhanced their education.
One teacher at the school shared that having access to these computers supported the students to become more adept at using technology. “The whole school and all of our students are very happy and honoured to receive these new computers. Before receiving them, most of the students lived in difficult circumstances and had limited access to information technology. They can now access the internet and learn about information technology easier,” she said.
In the future, Russell and Ursula hope to be able to support more education projects to help children like Yen and her peers to learn. After three donations, they have donated 32 computers to two schools in the Hoa Binh Province.
Today 20 June is World Refugee Day. As of 2022, there are an estimated 26.6 million refugees worldwide. Twelve million of these are children and young people. In the face of rising violence, 7 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes, fleeing into neighbouring countries to find safety. Oksana is one of these 7 million: this is her story and how she is now working with ChildFund Alliance member WeWorld to help others like her.
At 6am on the morning of 24 February, 35-year-old Oksana woke up to the sound of loud blasts outside her home in Odessa, Ukraine. Her phone was ringing and she could hear explosions.
By 10am, Oksana and her 4-year-old son had gathered at a friend’s house with their families where they learned that Russia had launched airstrikes across Ukraine. While the adults were trying deciding what to do, the children played in the garden. Then they heard more explosions across the city and rushed the children inside and down to the basement. They had no choice but to flee to neighbouring Moldova less than 200kms away – hoping they would only be there for a few days.
Two days later, Oksana left Odessa with friends, her mother, her 4-year-old son and their cat. She left behind her father, many friends, her home and everything she knew. Her husband was working overseas when the conflict began. Unlike many Ukrainian men, he was fortunate enough to be able to join his family in Moldova weeks later.
Oksana found Moldova to be very peaceful. It is a small country of just over 4 million people. Many people speak Russian and it shares many cultural similarities to Ukraine. Despite this, Oksana knows it is not where she and her family want to live permanently. She doesn’t feel like Moldova is her home or her country.
This is a sentiment shared by many Ukrainian refugees who fled to Moldova in the wake of escalating violence. Many choose to stay in Moldova so they can return to Ukraine from time to time to check on their friends and family, with hopes of returning permanently one day.
Oksana has returned to Odessa four times to check on her father, her friends and her house. While returning from her first trip, she picked up three women and their children and drove to Moldova where they waited more than 17 hours to cross the border.
She says that Odessa is still relatively calm. Many people have stayed and continue to work – despite the uncertainty of what will happen next. She feels lucky because Odessa has not been bombed too heavily and people have had the opportunity to leave.
When they first arrived in Moldova, Oksana had a difficult time finding a kindergarten for her son. The public ones are overcrowded, with a wait time of at least eight months and all classes are taught in Moldovan.
Alternatively, private kindergartens are expensive with many charging up to 500 Euros per month – more than the average monthly salary in the country. Fortunately she managed to find an affordable private kindergarten taught in a three-bedroom apartment. For her son, like many other children who have left Ukraine, it has been difficult to learn in a different language.
With all the costs of settling in a new country, Oksana went in search for financial and resettlement support for Ukrainian refugees. Here she learned about distribution centres WeWorld had set up to support Ukrainian children and their families who had been forced to leave their homes. She took her son and went to visit one of these centres to learn more about what activities and support they provide.
As soon as she got there, her son started playing with other Ukrainian children and he didn’t want to leave. Seeing him enjoying himself encouraged Oksana to do the same. She began to speak with other mothers and staff from WeWorld. She met WeWorld’s Country Representative in Moldova and the Head of International Programs, and ended up accepting a job as WeWorld’s Administration and Communications Officer.
Now she works in the distribution centres with other volunteers and WeWorld staff.
“When we meet other Ukrainians, we don’t say hello, we directly ask “how are you”? The people that have arrived here in the past months need help, they have no strength left. If I hadn’t met WeWorld’s staff I wouldn’t have worked here and this job is what gave me the mental strength to keep on going,” said Oksana.
“Understanding that we are not alone in our pain, that other people understand our sorrow and support us, it’s a huge help and it gives us hope for tomorrow, even if we don’t know what it will hold for us. Maybe we’ll go to Canada but it’s a very big country and it’s still not ours.”
Over the last few months, Oksana has been thinking back to the Syrian conflict in 2011 – something that seemed so foreign and far away from her own life. But now she understands the devastation and upheaval that families and their communities experienced. Oksana and her family have also become refugees due to violence in their home country. Despite the ongoing violence, she is optimistic that she will be able to return back to her home country one day.
