Life Centre, Lviv

During the week I visited the Life Centre in Lviv, originally started by an American organisation that helps women in crisis pregnancy situations to keep their babies. As the centre coordinator said, "The war changed everything." After Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, huge numbers of displaced people fled to Lviv, many of them pregnant women - 160 came to the Life Centre in the first 6 weeks. They received humanitarian aid - diapers, food, etc. - and the centre became a safe place for women to meet, for emotional and educational support.

There were also "recovery camps" for women and children who fled the conflict, where they could relax and enjoy nature for a weekend. The Life Centre is staffed by volunteers, many of them women who came to the centre after they had been displaced, from places like Mariupol, Zaporizhzhia, etc.

Now there are activities/classes for women and children, including beginners English and art, as on the day I visited. My co-volunteer English teacher, Anna, gave a financial management class. Some of the women have started their own businesses.

There's an interesting reward system for women who attend educational classes: they receive vouchers that they can spend on food, baby items, etc. Anna described the overall ethos of the place as being somewhere you can do something meaningful and recover your self-esteem.

On Saturday I was invited to an Easter event for the children who attend the Life Centre, including a lesson in painting eggs, which is a big thing here.

 I'm continuing to make energy bars most days; in fact, it was mostly just me last week. I had some nice feedback from the volunteer coordinator, who wrote that the energy bars I made were delivered to the soldiers fighting in one area. She sent photos, which I've cropped for anonymity. Imagine smiles on faces.

I'm still helping with camouflage netting for vehicles when I can, particularly after I found out that there is a large outstanding order from the frontline. President Zelenskyi has said that Russia is preparing for a new offensive in May - June.

One morning, at the netting centre, everyone stopped to remember one of the women's sons, who was killed on the frontline exactly 2 years previously. That certainly highlighted the reality of war. There was food, of course, and everyone raised a glass of cognac to the soldier's memory.

Really, no reminder is needed of this cruel and senseless war, even as far west as Lviv. Russia launched another massive air attack across Ukraine on Thursday night (March 29) - missiles and attack drones - mainly targetting electricity generation facilities, including in Lviv region. There were emergency power outages in Dnipropetrovsk region and hourly blackout schedules in Kharkiv region.

Places on or near the frontline continue to be bombarded by shelling, daily. Every day, civilians going about their daily business are killed, e.g. on Thursday, a taxi driver in Kherson.

Early this morning (Easter Sunday for some) the Russians launched another country-wide missile attack, including on the same critical infrastructure in Lviv region that was targeted on 24 and 29 March. The administration building was destroyed and one person was killed. There may still be people under the rubble.

So our English Speaking Club was held, yet again, following a disrupted night. The increased threat alert (when it's known that missiles and/or drones are headed in this direction) lasted from about 5 - 6:30 a.m.

However, 10 people attended the conversation group - a good number for our discussion topic this week: Easter traditions.

There is considerable confusion amongst Ukrainians about when to celebrate Easter Sunday - whether it should be according to the Catholic church calendar, i.e. today, or the Ukrainian Orthodox church, which uses the Julian Calendar, meaning that Easter is as much as a month later — 5 May this year. It really does seem to be as much about dates as about practices...some people just seem to celebrate twice! 

There was a lot of laughter in the group, particularly when we were discussing the importance of cleaning the house (Thursday) and preparing food for Easter Sunday, and men's role in this - or not! And also, when I was introduced to the idea of fighting with the decorated hard-boiled eggs...the one who smashes the most eggs wins - I think!

Modal verbs didn't get much laughter, it has to be said. This is mainly a conversation class but it's hard to avoid some grammar!

As a sort of antidote to the current bombing campaign, the weather is already warm and sunny in Lviv. Yesterday (30 March) the maximum air temperature reached 23.5°C, which broke the previous record of 21.7°C in 1968.