KYIV, UKRAINE — The incessant blare of air raid sirens and the pounding drum of war have reverberated across Ukraine for three years and counting.
In search of refuge, some Ukrainians, like 14-year-old Oleksandra Antonenko, have turned to music.
Sitting in a practice room, with a black fender guitar on her lap, the teen shares that when she plays music, “its comforting, I’m going to another world… the problems of the world don’t bother me.”
Antonenko would be excused for, at times, wanting to run away from the world that surrounds her. The teen sat down with CTV News shortly after finishing her music lesson at Kyiv’s School of Rock Ukraine. She shared that her father was killed in combat during the first year of the Russian invasion.
On Feb. 24, 2022, when she was just 11 years old, Antonenko and her mother were forced to leave their hometown of Kharkiv. Her father, Dimitri Antonenko stayed behind. A lawyer by trade, he enlisted and joined he Ukrainian Army on the very first day of the war.
In June of that year, the mother and daughter received an early-morning phone call from the military. Antonenko says she quickly learned the army doesn’t call you with good news at 8 a.m.
“I had to call my grandmother and tell her that her son (my father) was dead. It was the worst conversation I have ever had.”
Canadians and the war
Canadian-Ukrainian Patricia Maruschak left her home and family in Winnipeg nearly three years ago to help lead an NGO and provide aid to Ukraine.
Speaking to CTV News in Kyiv, Maruschak admits that personally it’s been difficult at times.
“I’ve missed out a lot with my family. I feel some guilt, but they’ve been supportive. In the end, we’re all interested in Ukraine doing well.”
As the Country Director of Finn Church Aid in Ukraine, Maruschak and her colleagues have recently focused their efforts to help build bomb shelters in schools.
Schools in subways
Maruschak’s team has also helped to turn underground subway platforms into classrooms.
“There are five schools that have been built inside the subway stations in Kharkiv. Kids want to go to school, it amazes me how motivated Ukrainian children are to learn,” said Maruschak.
The principal of another school in Kharkiv broke down in tears when Maruschak and the Finn Church Aid team brough a small donation of around $3,000.
“They asked us for some money just to pave the floor of the school shelter. So, when they go down there with small groups of children during a potential drone or missile attack, there’s no dust flying around for the children,” Maruschak said.
Antonenko only began playing the guitar about six months ago. As she strummed through her favourite song, Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, the 14-year-old who’s been forced to grow up far too fast praises her father for giving his life for his country and for those he loved.
“But, I still miss him,” she said. “I see him in my dreams. Sometimes he comes when I’m having a tough time. All I have to say is I love you and thank you.”
