Yana Chufytska was born in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region. As a child, she decided she would become a teacher — and has now been working at the same school for 25 years.
After russia’s full-scale invasion, on April 5, 2022, Yana and her family evacuated to Dnipro, where she continued teaching online for her Kostiantynivka school — giving lessons to students scattered around the world by the war.
“But just teaching online wasn’t enough. I wanted something more — to be useful, to help somehow,” Yana shares.
In September 2022, the “MyRazom” Support Center for IDPs from Kramatorsk District opened in Dnipro. The team planned to launch a language club for children — not traditional lessons, but interactive activities where kids could communicate, learn, and relax.
Each class brings together 10–15 children, but Yana says the most moving audience has been adults. This year, “MyRazom” started a Ukrainian language club for people aged 45 to 75, who gather every Saturday to learn to speak their native tongue.
“Here they don’t just learn the language — they find a community, a sense that they’re not alone. They learn to listen, to speak, to trust. It’s more than lessons — it’s a small community where everyone matters,” Yana explains.
In the summer of 2023, Yana also began working two days a week as the center’s manager: registering visitors, distributing humanitarian aid, consulting displaced persons, and helping them find housing, social benefits, or assistance. At the same time, she remains a homeroom teacher and head of the trade union committee at her Kostiantynivka school, continuing to teach online.
Recently, the “MyRazom” center celebrated its third anniversary.
“It’s a place where pain, fatigue, and anxiety gradually turn into hope and new strength. Here, people find real support,” Yana says.
The “MyRazom” team provides social, legal, and medical consultations, employment assistance, educational events, and psychological support. In addition to language classes, the center offers sessions with psychologists, nutritionists, and runs various interest clubs.
Yana Chufytska’s story reminds us that a true calling never disappears, even when everything else does. You can lose your home — but not yourself. A true teacher teaches not only in the classroom, but wherever a word of support or a touch of human warmth is needed.
The war has taken away peace and plans, but not the most important things — sincerity, compassion, and faith that light will return. Volunteering has become part of Yana’s life — her new source of strength that keeps her going.
The Ukrainian people are strong and unbreakable.
Together to Victory!