The Franco-Ukrainian Provence Fraternity association creates a school on Saturdays

With a serious face between two childish braids, Anouch, 10 years old, tries to trace each letter of the word “Frantsiya”, France, in Ukrainian. Halfway through, his pencil loses focus. “How is that spelled again?” At school Happy childrenoversights like this are legion but here, there is no need to be ashamed: the students do not have grades or diplomas, we come there to learn from our mistakes, to talk about everything and nothing, to laugh. The only educational objective is to keep the Ukrainian language and culture alive among children who arrived in France at a young age following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Every Saturday, around fifteen children play the game, welcomed in the colorful premises of the Franco-Ukrainian Brotherhood of Provence (FFUP), in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône). Aged 3 to 14, all are educated in French. Like Anouch, most have hesitant Ukrainian. “Children adapt very quickly to change,” explains David Sanchez, president of the FFUP, an association whose primary purpose is the organization of humanitarian convoys.

Fight against oblivion

Nearly four years after the start of the conflict, “solidarity is running out of steam” with regard to Ukrainian refugees, and the deterioration of their reception conditions is being singled out by several associations. Despite an unfavorable context, Liubov Melnyk, 39, is determined. The mission of the Happy Children school is particularly close to the heart of this trained psychologist, who converted to specialized education after the birth of her daughter, Nadja, who suffers from Down syndrome.

In October 2022, she is approaching the FFUP with this educational project, inspired by Montessori pedagogy. “I wanted to continue doing my work,” recalls the woman who is also the founder of a school still operating in Berdychiv, a city in west-central Ukraine. Same vocation, different setting. This December morning, Liubov receives his students in an open space, converted into a classroom. Sitting in a circle on the gray carpet, Anouch, Emma, ​​Boris and the others sing a Ukrainian nursery rhyme, “so that we don’t forget our story, our truth”. By memorizing poems, reading and singing, their vocabulary is enriched, notes the professor.

Discreetly contemplating the scene, Nataliia also notices improvements in her daughter. Aurore was born three and a half years ago, in the first months of the war, and has never lived in the country of origin of her mother, who left Ukraine to study medicine in France, in 2016. The Happy Children school is Aurore’s first real immersion in the “Ukrainian environment”, rejoices Nataliia before admitting, with a shy laugh: “I think it helps me more than her. » A day at the Happy Children school usually begins with a catechism class, taught by Father Mykola Hryvnak, of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Saint-Jean-du-Désert – one of the few meeting places in Marseille’s fragmented community.

Cultivate the taste for creating

The multidisciplinary artist Yana Rozdobudko then takes over with drawing workshops, decorative painting of Petrykivka – a technique listed as a UNESCO world heritage site -, or even cutting, Vytynanka. With a sparkling eye, she presents the work of her students, which proudly covers the walls of her improvised workshop, transformed into a manifesto. An inveterate pacifist, she uses art as a pretext to instill in children “the taste for creating, not destroying.” Its philosophy is one of openness and tolerance.

Ultimately, the volunteer team would like to open its classes to the French or other exiles to “exchange and share” between the communities, smiles David Sanchez. “Yes, keeping the language and culture is important,” adds Liubov, “but it is even more important to keep our humanity, despite everything. »