THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Svitlana Haievska is a graduate of the philological faculty of the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, a well-known Carpathian journalist, a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), a volunteer, a digital content author. She could not imagine her life without her favorite profession. Popularizing the native Ukrainian language has become her life’s work. She talked about the cultural and historical heritage of the region about the life of Prykarpattia. In 20 years, the creative work of the media woman has included a number of interesting TV and radio programs on the Nadvirna District Radio Blue-Yellow Wave, the Nadvirna TV and radio company, the RAI TV and radio company, and Suspilne.Ivano-Frankivsk. She is the laureate of the Nadvirna District Prize named after Nadiya Popovych (2009) and the Ivano-Frankivsk City Prize named after Ivan Franko (2015).
Svitlana Haievska has told the employees of the Ivano-Frankivsk Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) of the NUJU about her volunteer activities.
2014 changed my life
Before the beginning of the russian invasion of Ukraine, Svitlana Haievska had never been to the east of Ukraine. She went to the Donetsk Region for the first time in June 2014. I liked Mariupol the most. I got acquainted with this important industrial center of the country in March 2015. In general, the road from Nadvirna to Mariupol was very difficult, as it took 35-37 hours. In 2014-2022, as Svitlana notes, all trips to the east were related to journalistic activities.
“2014 was the period of the beginning of changes in my life. I began to travel a lot to Mariupol and other cities of the Donetsk Region. The first two trips were from the regional organization of the NUJU. Then, I started traveling as a public figure. I took the microphone, communicated with people, and made reports about them. I also looked for Ukrainian unions, met with local public activists, and held joint events. Somehow, two years before the full-scale war, I brought Ukrainian-language books to Mariupol from her neighbors. Mariupol volunteer and entrepreneur Kyrylo Dolimbaiev organized a volunteer hub in the city near the Church of St. Peter Mohyla and the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin – the first Ukrainian public library named after Vasyl Stus and the first school of playing the bandura named after Volodymyr Slipak. It was there that I brought various literature to. In general, for the years 2014 – 2022, I visited Mariupol ten times, Kramatorsk twice, Druzhkivka, Kostiantynivka, and Sloviyansk once each,” says Svitlana Haievska.
Svitlana was also an active participant in the creative hub Modern Ukraine, which was created by Oleksandr and Mariya Sladkovs from Mariupol. In particular, she participated in the project dedicated to the Day of the Ukrainian Language and Writing. She talked about Nadvirna and its symbols, customs, and traditions of the people of Nadvirna. During the project, I learned a lot of interesting things about the cities of the Donetsk Region.
Each time, such trips to the east of Ukraine, as Svitlana admitted, became more frequent. She was offered to join a volunteer movement to help the local population of towns and cities that suffered from enemy attacks. Then Svitlana answered: I can’t volunteer because I don’t know how to do it, and I won’t do it.
“Definitely, to the volunteer movement,” says Svitlana. “I would never have joined if not for the year 2022, which turned everything upside down in my life. After all, it was necessary to save those people to whom I went during the anti-terrorist operation, with whom I made reports and joint creative projects.”
Because of volunteering, I left my favorite job in the media
February 24, 2022, the day of the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine by the russian occupiers, left behind the other, peaceful life of every Ukrainian and every Ukrainian family. February 24, 2022, is a day that changed the lives of tens of millions of our compatriots.
“At 5 o’clock, at dawn on February 24, I already knew that it was a war. My children also live in the city of Nadvirna, in one of the buildings on the fifth floor. They had it that day. The horizon of the Ivano-Frankivsk Airport can be seen from the windows of the apartment. When we saw something on fire at the airport, I immediately said: “This is war.” For the first three days, she found her temporary shelter on our Nadvirna television, which is located in the basement. It was those three nights that gave me the opportunity not to be afraid, to gather myself, to work, and to live on. Then I returned home, and I was not afraid at all. A few days later, I received a call asking for help from my Mariupol friend, volunteer, and activist Kyrylo Dolimbaiev. In parallel with work, she started volunteering. My life has changed,” Svitlana Haievska shared her memories.
The media outlet immediately responded to the request for help. Initially, in cooperation with the Plast station in the city of Nadvirna, Svitlana opened the Help Point for Mariupol Residents and began collecting everything necessary. First of all, food products for children and adults, hygiene products, clothes, and shoes. Later, the trustees started asking for the card number and transferring charitable funds.
Almost every day, Svitlana published posts about help through her page on Facebook: “People, this is about Mariupol! About my favorite Ukrainian city! There are many friends and acquaintances! The people of Mariupol need help! Dear fellow citizens and residents of the Nadvirna District! There is a great need to help Mariupol residents with food, who got out of hell, but are now left to the will of God and good people. Two large reception centers for refugees from the Mariupol TG in Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia cannot withstand the load. There are hundreds of thousands of people who simply have nothing to feed. Therefore, we ask you to form humanitarian aid for Mariupol residents, who are already in safer places but need our help.”
“I became very active,” says Svitlana. “Because of volunteering, I left my job on television because I had to travel often. After all, at the beginning of March 2022, hundreds of thousands of Mariupol residents, leaving their hometown, found temporary shelter in the “Good morning, we are from Mariupol” humanitarian centers in the cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. I delivered aid to these centers. My first volunteer trip was to Dnipro to the people of Mariupol. It was like this: I was brought to Ivano-Frankivsk to the railway station by my relatives and helped to unload. At that time, I had forty boxes containing food, starting from Maliutka and ending with cereals and canned food. I remember how the two conductors of the train, seeing such a fragile me and forty boxes, said: “She is kind of reckless.” But that didn’t stop me. She tried to quickly load all the boxes into the wagon. Sometimes, passengers helped. However, in Dnipro the train has a stop of 12 minutes. It was problematic to get off, because you have to be on time in a few minutes. In Zaporizhzhia, it is easier because it is the final stop. But I managed it. The main thing is to remember: people are waiting for your help, they are counting on you.”
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, volunteer Svitlana Haievska has made more than 30 trips to the east of the country with humanitarian aid. She was most often in Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. Later, the geography expanded, and we had to deliver aid to Kryvyi Rih, Kherson, Izium, Kupiyansk, and Bilopillia.
“During each trip, I worked out the logistics more and more precisely. Before leaving, she contacted activists and public organizations in the region where she planned to go. After all, shots are heard all around; roadblocks are everywhere. It is important not only to unload aid but also to deliver it to those who need it.”
Now, the volunteer has started helping the military as well. She is engaged in the purchase of drones for the needs of the 102nd separate brigade of territorial defense, where her friends, classmates, and compatriots from the Nadvirna district. Thanks to benefactors, it was possible to buy four drones and personally bring them to the unit in Huliaipole. Two more have been ordered, so another trip awaits Svitlana.
“I can’t stay idly by,” said Svitlana. “Then I will ask myself: “Where have you been? What did you do what is your role?” Everything must be done on time, so I got involved and started volunteering. When my last penny runs out, my volunteering will end. I will return to my favorite journalism.”
After the Victory, very hard work awaits us
Svitlana Haievska admitted she did not think that she would be involved in volunteer activities for so long. In fact, she thought that once or twice, she would take the necessary things to her friends from Mariupol, and that was it. But she remembered the words of Anastasiya Pyndzyn, a Nadvirna nurse, who once said: “Svitlana, keep in mind that this is very time-consuming. You can do it once or twice and then not stop.” That’s how it all happened. For two years now, the volunteer has been helping the residents of the frontline areas, the military, and, in fact, everyone who asks for help. Now, he is volunteering together with a former anti-terrorist operation member, the head of the Nadvirna NGO All-Ukrainian Association of Prykarpattia ATO Soldiers, Yurii Ostapchuk.
“And there was one more interesting incident,” says Svitlana. “When I returned in August 2023 from Pokrovsk, Donetsk Region, I had UAH 4.50 left in my pocket. A candle in the church in my town, in Nadvirna, costs UAH 5. And I thought: I come to Nadvirna, put another fifty kopecks, and put a candle for the health of our soldiers, and this, God, is a sign from you that I need to finish volunteering. I thought so and voiced it out loud to myself under the Pokrovsk train. I hadn’t had time to get to Dnipro yet when they started charging me for my card. Then I thought: this is a sign that my volunteering will not stop. It takes about 2.5 hours to reach the Dnipro from Pokrovsk. I see that the money is coming in and coming in. And I gave my word to God. When the last penny, the last sock, or any last thing runs out, I mean, when I no longer have anything to go with, I will then get it as a sign. And I’ll take it as the end of my volunteering. However, as soon as I begin to think about it, funds start coming to me again. This is the second time. The first time was last year in Pokrovsk, and this year, there was also such a situation.”
“We are all looking forward to the Victory,” emphasizes Svitlana Haievska. “After the Victory, very hard work awaits us. And now, each of us must bring that Victory closer with their actions, good deeds, and civic activity. Of course, I miss journalism. I will definitely return to my favorite profession and see myself most in newspaper journalism. But for now, I gave my word to God: I will do volunteer work until the last penny.”
Call the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC at 066 677 0726 (Viktoriya Plakhta, the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC coordinator). The Center’s address is 25 Sichovykh Striltsiv Street.
ABOUT JSC
The Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the NUJU implemented with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO. The initiative is designated to help media representatives working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers operate in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro and provide journalists with organizational, technical, legal, psychological, and other types of assistance.
ABOUT UNESCO
UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. It contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication, and information. UNESCO promotes knowledge sharing and the free flow of ideas to accelerate mutual understanding. It is the coordinator of the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers, thus strengthening peace, democracy, and sustainable development worldwide. UNESCO is working closely with its partner organizations in Ukraine to provide support to journalists on the ground.
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this digest do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this digest and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit to the organization.
Bohdana Zasidko
Ivano-Frankivsk JSC
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