Workshops for children of prisoners of war held in Mykolaiv

The Southern Regional Center of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War works with children of prisoners of war, active and deceased servicemen to improve their psychological state. Usually, they hold various workshops on drawing, handicrafts or play educational games.

" Children come to us whose parents are either captured, killed or missing. I communicate with parents before the events, tell them what the theme of the workshop will be, so that I know whether the child will be able to participate. There are cases when, due to some psychological trauma, children cannot participate in a particular workshop. For example, there was a case when a girl had complexes after her experience at school and did not come to the workshops, but she went to our art therapy, which helped her. This time, we had a girl who cried every time she didn't know the answer to the riddles. But we could see by her mother's reaction that she was reacting normally to it, so most likely, the child is in this state now. After that, we start to pay more attention to such children," says Iryna Ursulova, a consultant at the Southern Regional Center of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

(Iryna Ursulova, consultant of the Southern Regional Center of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, center. Photo from the interviewee's personal archive)

The Southern Regional Center of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War covers Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

(Children of prisoners of war, fallen and missing soldiers play a team game, drawing team pictures ahead of time)

In general, the Center works in several areas of assistance to families of prisoners of war and released prisoners of war. They also work with active military personnel. The Center employs lawyers, psychologists, and counselors who advise on all bureaucratic issues for relatives of POWs in order to make various appeals to law enforcement, justice, child safety services, the Security Service of Ukraine, the JFO TCC, and others. The Center also cooperates with one of Mykolaiv's medical institutions to rehabilitate those released from captivity, conduct individual psychological sessions for military personnel and their families, and work with their children.

(Pictures drawn by both teams of children)

Journalist Albina Karman attended one of the master classes for children of prisoners of war, killed and missing soldiers and showed how it works.

(The children received sweet gifts after participating in the workshop)