At Oleshnia, Ukraine’s Sophia Rusova Lyseum, I am Olena Zamorska, an English teacher. I was startled out of my slumber at precisely 4:20 a.m. by the sound of explosions. I ran outdoors with my family and we watched in terror. We heard explosions and the sounds of military vehicles, and we saw flashes in the sky. The Russian border was only thirty kilometers away. Our lives were altered at that instant because we realized that the war had begun.
I was at a loss for what to do. I gave my work and my students some thought. In the eighth grade, I was the lead teacher. To calm my kids, I called a meeting. We had to adjust to living and working remotely in a risky new environment. I distributed homework to my pupils via their phones, and I double-checked everything by gathering the exercise books. They carried them to the closest store. At that time, it served as a meeting and communication space. The area around our settlement was “grey.” There were no Russian or Ukrainian military present. We were without food, internet access, or electricity. Additionally, we were unable to speak with anyone outside.
I kept in touch with the parents of the students and visited them at home on my bicycle. People paid attention to what I had to say because at the time I was the village’s local authority. I used a wood burner to prepare bread, which I then distributed to those in need. Because there wasn’t enough food at the time, people were incredibly appreciative. Every evening, we observed and heard Russian aircraft and helicopters dropping bombs on Chernihiv and supplying food and supplies to their soldiers. We think they flew at night to scare people and prevent them from going to sleep. The pilot was visible since the helicopters were flying so low. It was really terrible. We braced ourselves for the worst as we had no idea what lay ahead.
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