Little Serhii throws a pillow from the couch. He is only 3 years old – he laughs as he tries to win the pillow fight. His 6-year-old brother Deniz does not want to play with him. He stares intently at his tablet as he is playing a new game. Deniz is carefully trying to keep his finger on the touch screen to prevent the ball from touching the edge of the screen, which automatically means game over. While they are playing, their mother Yanina prepares their dinner.
They thought it would only be for a few days
After the escalation of war in Ukraine in 2022, Yanina and her four children fled to Slovakia. What was intended as a short stay away from Lviv turned into an unexpected new chapter in their lives, now spanning two years. Yanina lives with her children in Kosice in Eastern Slovakia, where they have found a new home away from home.
Back in Ukraine Yanina was a high school maths teacher with over 25 years of experience. In her spare time, she would help students prepare for exams. Today, she continues tutoring over the internet as students in Ukraine still need the same support with exam preparations. Sadly, she has not yet been able to return to teaching in the classroom because of the language challenges she still faces in Slovakia.
"Since I've been in Slovakia, I can't find a job in my field. To teach mathematics in Slovakia, I need to have a Slovak language certificate at B2 level. I still don't speak well enough to pass this exam. This is the only obstacle for me to continue teaching mathematics here,” says Yanina.
Yanina joins other Ukranian refugees trying to find appropriate work in Slovakia. Other barriers include complex requirements for recognition of education certificates and diplomas, and care responsibilities in the home. This causes many families additional economic stress which can also negatively affect children.
Building a life in a new country without knowing the language
Despite the challenges, both Serhii and Deniz attend a kindergarten in Kosice, along with Slovak children. They are in daily contact with the Slovak language and receive support from Tatiana, a child psychologist from Ukraine, to adapt to the new context and connect with other children.
Serhii is in a classroom with other 3-year-olds. They spend their mornings learning to sing Slovak nursery rhymes and to dance; in the afternoons they are outside in the playground. Older Deniz is having a creative arts lesson, glueing colourful cut-outs onto paper. Tatiana is present in the classroom to assist the Ukrainian pupils. She offers mental health support for Ukrainian children as part of a partnership by the city of Kosice and UNICEF that provides interventions in five kindergartens in Kosice.
"Children need water, food and vitamins first, then clothes and school supplies. If they get sick, they need medicine. All this must be provided by the parents," says Tatiana.
Yanina and families just like hers have ongoing needs as they rebuild their lives and settle their children. A UNICEF cash-assistance programme is giving them a helping hand.
"Thanks to this support, I can raise my children safely and with dignity. We have managed to get back on our feet," says Yanina. “I use it to buy food and clothes for the children, or to pay for swimming lessons at the kindergarten,” she adds.
117,000 refugees from Ukraine - mostly women and children - hold temporary protection status in Slovakia two years after the war escalated. UNICEF, together with the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families, UNHCR, IOM and the Red Cross, have set up various cash assistance schemes to support Ukrainian children and their families in Slovakia. To date, they have reached over 26,000 households with cash support. The cash for protection programme, from which Yanina benefited, supports Ukrainian families with children under 3 years old.
UNICEF’s humanitarian cash assistance programme for Ukrainian refugee children and families in Slovakia has been supported through the generous contributions from the German Federal Foreign Office and the US Government's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
