“Strength within:” Mariupol resident restored entertainment center for children in evacuation

What is the problem?

Before the full-scale invasion, Olha Prokhorova, a resident of the now Russian-occupied Mariupol, dreamed of having her own business in the city — the children's interactive entertainment center LightPlay, which translates as LightPlay. In the innovative, modern space, many young Mariupol residents enjoyed spending their time — playing, creating, learning, and developing. This all changed when Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.

What is the solution?

What to do if the war unleashed by the Kremlin occupiers has taken everything away from you — home, city, favorite job, dream? Olha Prokhorova decided not to give up — she moved to the city of Kamianske in the Dnipropetrovsk region and resumed the center's activities in the new place.

How does it work?

Prokhorova is an elementary school teacher by trade and has worked in a public school for many years. However, she says that the school framework has always put pressure on her, and the idea of creating something special did not leave the entrepreneur.

"Working with children is my life's work. I always wanted something new — to arrange something unusual and exciting for children. I found a place, won a grant from UNDP — and the dream became a reality: in 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, our LightPlay opened its doors to the children of Mariupol," Prokhorova shared with Rubryka.

Prokhorova immediately came up with the name for the center of interactive entertainment, LightPlay. After all, the main feature of the space was the involvement of interactive equipment and games with light. Here, children painted with light paints, which glow under ultraviolet lamps, developed creative abilities with "Paint with Light" tablets and worked with an interactive whiteboard. The center had its own shadow theater, light sandboxes, a projector, many toys, and educational games — everything necessary to make the time interesting, fun, and educational.

The highlight of the center was the interactive light floor. Prokhorova saw such an idea in one of the inclusive schools. This modern tool is designed to restore and develop children's motor, intellectual, and emotional spheres. The activity in the form of a game makes the performance of tasks relaxed and exciting — therefore, while playing, children learn the alphabet, numbers, and rules of behavior on the road, get acquainted with new colors, plants, and animals, develop dexterity, vestibular apparatus, gross and fine motor skills.

LightPlay worked in Mariupol for a year and a half, and then a full-scale Russian invasion began. For the first two weeks, Prokhorova went to work — while the city was under siege, adults brought the children to classes so that they could distract themselves from the shock and stress that Russia had forced them to experience.

"We tried with all our might to set the children on the positive side, to distract them somehow. They made appliqués and crafts and created melodies on toy musical instruments," recalls the founder of the center. "By some miracle, we found a map of Ukraine and, together with the children, we painted it as a group."

Then, the electricity started disappearing, and the classes had to be stopped. A few days later, Prokhorova, using the opportunity of the "green corridor," decided to evacuate.

"We didn't even know where to go. We left on March 18 toward Zaporizhzhia; getting there took ten long days," Prokhorova recalls. An acquaintance lent them an apartment to the family in Kamianske, in the Dnipropetrovsk region. "Then, we all thought it would be for a month or two, but it turned out we would have to stay here for a very long time."

Getting anything from the LightPlay center out of occupied Mariupol was almost impossible. The toys were distributed to the children before the evacuation, and some of the equipment was hidden in the apartment, which, unfortunately, did not help — everything burned down after being hit by an enemy projectile. The computer equipment of the light floor also had to be left behind because the carriers did not risk transporting things suspicious for the occupiers through the checkpoints.

Already in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in Kamianske, Prokhorova first got a job as the head of the extra-curricular center. Then, she decided to restore the work of the children's space. The teacher was told about grant support for projects from the GURT Resource Center by an acquaintance who had previously received help for her business from this organization. As a result, the project received ₴240,000 of support funds.

Since November 2022, the LightPlay children's space has operated in Kamianske. 

The idea is that there is light in every person. For it not to disappear but to become bigger, people just need to be helped. "This light will defeat the darkness in any circumstances," Prokhorova reveals the idea.

In the new project phase, the teacher had enough funds to purchase an interactive panel, new furniture, and two light sandboxes. The restored children's center has courses for preparing children for school, where children learn literacy and the basics of mathematics and develop memory and attention. For schoolchildren, there is an extended day group with an individual approach, help with homework, and outings. LightPlay also offers services such as a mini-kindergarten, a summer camp, psycho-relieving classes with fairy-tale therapy, master classes and quests, and holidays.

One of the new formats of the initiative, Saturday parties for older children, arose as a response to the challenges of the war.

"This is a new format for communication," explains Prokhorova. Many children are now deprived of their usual environment due to moving or online education, so they feel confused. Children can play games with peers at the center's parties, watch cartoons, dance, laugh, and perhaps find new friends. The event lasts three hours, so parents also have a lot of free time for their own affairs.

Thanks to grant funds, a teacher from Mariupol purchased a SMARTUM (Academy for the Development of Child Intelligence) franchise. The academy uses a new method: children may not know letters at all at first but learn to read syllables in two months.

Now, the center invites younger children who are just learning to read or are improving their initial level for such classes. This is a good solution for children to learn easily and pleasantly and also for parents who sometimes do not have the opportunity or experience to teach their children to read on their own.Thanks to the SMARTUM methods used by Prokhorova, children learn to read in two months. Photo from the archive of Olga Prokhorova.

The teacher is happy that the interactive equipment in the center helps children achieve good results in learning and mastering new skills. Children master the wisdom of reading quickly, thanks to which their knowledge in other subjects improves as well.

Did they really succeed?

Children's development space LightPlay, which has been operating in Kamianske for the second year, is constantly visited by 40 to 50 children — from two to 10 years old, including displaced people. Last season, the center prepared 17 students for school.

The story of Prokhorova and her children's center could become quite a fairy tale if it were not for the war, which continues to this day. In addition to successes, the center also has problems. For example, the interactive floor, which was in Mariupol's center, remains a dream for the restored space. Even before the war, this useful tool for children cost ₴130 thousand, and now it is much more. There is not always enough money to spread information about the institution to advertise the services. Children of IDPs, on whom the space was oriented from the very beginning, are leaving Kamianske, going on to other cities or returning home.

However, Prokhorova does not give up in the face of temporary difficulties. With the arrival of the warm season, the teacher plans to resume the summer camp and hire several specialists from among the IDPs.

Even more useful solutions!

The GURT Resource Center, which supported the case of the Mariupol teacher, collected five motivational tips from Prokhorova, which will be useful both in business and in life. 

1. Be bold in your intentions. Set a high bar because life will give strength and resources according to the height of your request.
2. Find a unique product that you could create. There are many repetitions and covers — you are special.
3. Engage in charity. Then the Universe will bring you more helpers because it is the right movement of life to help people in need.
4. Do your work beyond your limits, with passion and no expectations of results. A properly created business plan will work for you.
5. Believe in yourself. Don't give up; life loves the brave — and everything will work out for you best!