VOICES OF VOLUNTEERING – EP 3 – HALYNA BALABANOVA: VOLUNTEERING UNDER OCCUPATION
“It was obvious to me that I had to stay,” said Halyna Balabanova, a volunteer from Mariupol. And she stayed. Halyna was forced to leave the city on March 16, and two days later, Russian special forces reached the volunteer center where she worked.
Halyna is a co-founder of the Khalabuda educational hub. In 2016, together with like-minded people, she created a development space for entrepreneurs, and since February 24, 2022, she has been helping volunteers who have fled the occupation. In the third episode of the Voices of Volunteering podcast, our Anna Bondarenko talked to Halyna about the first weeks of the full-scale war, Mariupol activists, and life under occupation. How did the Khalabuda hub meet the war? How did she get by without mobile connection? What helps her to keep going now? How much has communication within the team changed after the evacuation? How to support people living under occupation? “In occupation, the world shrinks to your yard or apartment. That’s why the most important thing is to keep in touch.”
This episode also features the voices of volunteers from Melitopol and Nova Kakhovka who stayed in the temporarily occupied cities to the last to help, support, and encourage.
Voices of Volunteering is a podcast about systemic volunteering, an encyclopedia of the management of good deeds, and a chance to meet representatives of various relevant areas. The podcast is hosted by Anna Bondarenko, founder and head of the Ukrainian Volunteer Service.
Voices of Volunteering sound with the support of UNICEF to encourage every Ukrainian to volunteer. Listen to the episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify, Google, and Apple Podcasts. Doing good is easier together!
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