Music stronger than weapons

February 10, 2022

With the support of the international community and local business, a music school in conflict-affected eastern Ukraine has been given a chance of a new life. Read in our story how music can save us in the darkest of times.

Photo credit: Artem Hetman / UNDP in Ukraine

Avdiivka, Ukraine – Olha Masliuk, 51, has dedicated more than 30 years of her life to teaching music.

The music school where she teaches piano classes and accompanies vocalists, is located near the “contact line” in the city of Avdiivka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

When the armed conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, many families fled from the city. But Olha could not possibly leave the work she adored, or the kids whose families stayed behind in the city.

“Well, how can one stop working when children keep coming to your class asking to study?” says Olha. “What was I supposed to say to these kids? Go home because a war has started? How was I supposed to explain that?”

She recalls how the echo of shelling and explosions were sometimes heard during classes. However, the sounds of classical music in the classrooms has never stopped no matter what. She believes that in those moments music helped people not to lose hope.

“We simple could not bear the thought that our normal life as we know it had ended. That is why we never stopped working.”

“We could not sit back. We were very active then. You know, that was something that actually saved us.”

Olha and her husband joined an international humanitarian organization and for a year helped people who had been caught up the midst of the armed conflict.

In February 2015, a shell hit the school wall. They had to move to a different building, but the school kept on working. 

Teachers continued to take their students to music competitions in other cities. The work not only did not stop – it was in full swing. 

“We keep working, and children keep attending their classes. Kids wanted to grow and develop, to learn something new. And who but us, the teachers, could have helped them in this?”

Olha loves her work and her students. She is convinced that every child has their own approach to learning music.

“I am in touch with children all the time,” she says. “Every child is a whole universe, and the task of a modern teacher is to get to know them better, to find a way to the heart of the younger generation, teaching them something new.”

In September 2020, the music school got a chance at a new life: The doors of the spacious, renovated building opened for teachers and children. Thanks to the joint efforts of the European Union and UNDP, new modern furniture and musical instruments have been purchased for the music school under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, and local business has helped with renovation of the building. 

Olha says that both children and teachers like new premises.

“Our new school is spacious, very bright and extremely beautiful,” she says.

Ten-year-old Ihnat Badryzlov, Olha’s student, when asked why he likes to play music, cheerfully answers: “Because I am the music!”

“I really like the new design of the classrooms and the fact that they are so big, you can hear everything there,” Ihnat says, sharing his impressions about the renovated school.

“The most important thing in my profession is to love children and see their potential,” Olha says. “Moreover, you need to grow with them, don’t stand still, constantly learn something new.”

Olha dreams of peace in eastern Ukraine and admits that she would like to have more confidence in the future.

At the same time, she is very happy to see many positive changes that are taking place in Avdiivka, despite the continuing armed conflict.

“Over the years, our city has become more elegant: new schools are opening, we have new roads here,” Olha says. “It makes us very happy. However, sometimes when we hear explosions again, my heart still skips a beat.”

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: The European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.

February 2022: Music stronger than weapons

Ольга дуже любить свою роботу та своїх учнів. Жінка переконана, що до кожної дитини потрібно знайти свій підхід.

«Я постійно спілкуюся з дітьми. Кожна дитина – це цілий всесвіт, а завдання сучасного педагога – пізнати його, знайти стежку до серця юного покоління, навчаючи їх чомусь новому», – каже вона.  

У вересні 2020 року музична школа отримала шанс на нове життя: перед вчителями та дітьми відчинилися двері оновленої просторої будівлі. Завдяки спільним зусиллям Європейського Союзу та ПРООН у межах Програми ООН із відновлення та розбудови миру для музичної школи було закуплено нові сучасні меблі й музичні інструменти, а ремонт будівлі допоміг зробити місцевий бізнес. 

Ольга каже, що дітям і викладачам подобається нове приміщення.

«Наша нова школа – простора, яскрава і надзвичайно красива», – каже вона.