New life, new school: France welcomes Ukraine's refugee children

There have been 7.5 million kids in Ukraine earlier than Russia launched its invasion of the nation on February twenty fourth. Since then, round two million have fled to different EU international locations. 

As a part of their try to rebuild their lives out of the country many of those Ukrainian refugee kids have began going again to highschool. I went to France to see how these Ukrainian kids are adjusting to their new lives overseas.

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Lots of people have been raped or killed only for enjoyable. When you do not wish to see that, or be part of it, it's a must to depart.

You wouldn’t count on an adolescent quietly sitting at his college desk to say the phrases simply above. However that is precisely what 17-year-old Serhii Horbonos informed me after we met.  He arrived in France with out his mother and father. He got here as a part of a bunch of 26 Ukrainians, all from Dnipro in Jap Ukraine. Despite the fact that the scholars have been all from the identical metropolis they'd by no means met earlier than - since then they've change into like a household. 

Euronews
Serhii, 17, is one in all 26 younger Ukrainian refugees from Dnipro now finding out within the French college system.Euronews
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All of us perceive that we're all in the identical scenario. If somebody loses their mother and father, it might be the worst factor for everybody, and everybody would assist.

Serhii Horbonos

Ukrainian refugee

I met Serhii on the “Diois Faculty Academy” within the laid-back southern French city of Die. The idyllic mountain area couldn’t be extra completely different from war-torn Ukraine. The college administration has created an intensive French course for them. The intention is to assist them progressively combine to allow them to participate in different programs.

Their instructor tells me that discuss of conflict is stored out of the category. Among the many giggles over French pronunciation, generally the temper will get heavier. However makes an attempt to learn the French sound of 'U' set off laughter once more.

The aim just isn't solely to show them French, says the academy's director Jean-Yves Ebel, but in addition to present them their social life again, to allow them to dwell out their adolescent lives.

“One of many missions of training is to present college students a spot to develop their persona and their well-being."

Euronews
Andrii, 9, from Kyiv, is the one non-French speaker in his class in Lyon.Euronews

The assimilation of Ukrainian college students into French college lessons I noticed was achieved with a number of care and respect. I used to be moved to see little Andrii, 9, from Kyiv, in his new class in Lyon. He was the one non-French speaker amongst round 30 pupils. His instructor used a translation app on her cell phone to speak with him. His classmates used gestures and goodwill. Andrii was probably the greatest pupils in his Ukrainian class. Regardless of this dramatic change in atmosphere, he's now understanding increasingly.

I left all the colleges I visited with a smile and a thought. Absolutely all refugees from all ethnicities and nationalities are price the identical unprecedented help given to Ukrainians.

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