“When we go to class, it’s a holiday for us”

Nina Gladenka lives with her husband in the city of Pryluky, in the Chernihiv region. Now the couple is retired, so they devote almost all their time to caring for their youngest daughter Olena.

Nina loves children: half her life, until her 70th birthday, she worked as a kindergarten teacher. Now her daughter Olena is 45. She has had cerebral palsy since childhood. This diagnosis was made when the girl was barely a year old. Since then, Nina has been making every effort to make her daughter’s life more comfortable.

“I went to Kyiv, to Yevpatoria. They did many operations. And then they went to sanatoriums for rehabilitation. My daughter finished 11 grades of school, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to walk. So she didn’t go to school any further,” the woman says.

Then Nina sought support among mothers who had similar experiences to her and her daughter. This is how a small community of women was formed, who made friends and decided to found their own public organization to help others.

“When our children grew up, we created the organization of young people with disabilities “Phoenix”. Back in 1993, when no one cared about people with such disabilities. And we are still working today. We don’t have specialists, it’s a support group where we communicate and exchange advice,” says Nina.

Recently, with the assistance of the European Union and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a Social Adaptation Space was opened in Pryluky at the Territorial Center for Social Services. This place is very important for Pryluky families who have relatives with disabilities. Here they can attend events, holidays, organize leisure activities and learn new things. Nina regularly visits this space with her daughter.

“We have computers there to learn how to use them. And we installed new stoves – my daughter and I baked apples there. When we go to classes, it’s a holiday for us.”

Nina says that for her daughter, each such meeting is an important event. Here she has the opportunity to communicate, to be in a friendly circle.

“We love her very much, we live for her. We take her everywhere, we do various exercises for development. All our relatives know that Tuesday and Wednesday are “our” days, we cannot be disturbed, because we take our Olena to the Social Adaptation Space. We work, we try not to let her sit at home. Now it is becoming more difficult, we are getting older every day,” says Nina.

Her eldest daughter has been living abroad for many years. She got married there, had children and already has grandchildren.

“They are all there, and we are here. They are calling us to them: come, there is everything here. They sent me a video where the bus driver stopped at a stop where a woman in a wheelchair was sitting. He got out, carried her in his arms, folded the chair, secured it and only then left. But we don’t want to leave home. And Olena doesn’t want to either.”

Nina emphasizes that, despite the war, she and her husband are trying to make their daughter’s life as bright as possible. The Social Adaptation Space helps them a lot in this.

“It is very difficult to live during the war. There is no joy. But our manager is wonderful. She and her colleagues always come up with something new, they cheer us up. If it weren’t for the space, we would have stayed at home. And the apartment is dark, the lights are turned off very often.”

Recently, Nina and Olena went to another class at Prostor. The day before, soldiers were buried in Pryluky, so the city was in mourning. Nina says that that day was especially difficult for her and her daughter emotionally.

“Everything was so gray around. And at the class, we talked about nature, animals, birds. Then we returned home so happy, as if it was a sunny day in our souls, can you imagine?”

Thus, the Social Adaptation Space becomes a place that returns light and colors to people, even when it seems that life offers only challenges.

The material was prepared within the framework of the flagship partnership of the UNDP and the EU “EU4Recovery — Empowering Communities in Ukraine.”

Photo: Danylo Antonyuk / Reporters / UNDP in Ukraine