This week we are going to meet Tetiana Novatska who is from the South of Ukraine. The 24 year old decided to do EVS in Tallinn the project, where she gets to work with mothers and their children.
Why did you chose Estonia?
I was a few times here in Estonia and once I visited the Ukrainian center in Tallinn. And I really liked it. The boss of the center told me about EVS. I didn’t know about such a program before but when I went back to Ukraine I looked for all the information in the internet. I found it quite complicated to understand how to participate and started to write to the e-mails I found on the websites about EVS in Europe with questions and soon I got really detailed description on how to apply. And I think I’m really lucky because I only sent out one application and got accepted straight away. Since now I know about EVS and I am really sorry that it is not popular in Ukraine. So I already planned to promote it to the youth once I’m back.
So I think I also chose Estonia because I have already been here and then I just applied for different projects. In the end, I got this one and I really I think I am the happiest person.
How does a normal day at work look like?
Very different! I try to schedule the week, but you never know how many mother or children are here. Sometimes all the mothers are at work and the children are at school or kindergarten. Sometimes I come and there is only 2 little babies here or sometimes more children are around. And it also depends on the weather. If we have good weather we go for a walk, on other days we play some games. Some days we also watch cartoons and talk about them like what they liked about it or if they learned something while watching. But we also read books together or cook. Really a lot of different things as it also depends on the age of children. If they are older like this boy who is living here right now who is 13 years old, when he comes back from school I help him with his homework.
And you speak Russian with the mothers and their children?
Yes, with some of the mums I speak Russians but then some others can only speak Estonian. I sometimes try to at least speak some Estonian that I learnt so far. And often there are some mothers around who can speak Estonian and Russian, so they can help me out and translate for me.
Do you feel any big changes after your time here so far?
It has totally changed me. I just realized that when February ends, I only have 3 more months, only one spring. That’s almost nothing! The time goes so fast. But it was and it still is an amazing time and I met so many nice people, good friends like my tutor and my mentors. I’m sure I will keep in touch with them after my time here. I also have some strong connection with some of the mothers who lived here and are now living in their own flats. So, when we are having parties or events in the center they are still coming. In march I am planning to do a cultural evening about Ukraine. We want to invite everyone I met so far in my EVS experience!
