Head in a Warzone

An education twinning project

Spending a week in a warzone was highly educational and certainly an experience that I will never forget.

This term I was invited to join a cross-party humanitarian mission to Ukraine, alongside three wellknown politicians, journalists and humanitarian charity founder David Fox-Pitt. I was the only educationalist in the group and was able to bring a unique view to the occasion. While I am concerned for the wellbeing of all, my focus was quietly the younger generations coming through who would be affected both in terms of their education and their emotional state. What I found was extraordinary.

There were several missions to achieve during the week. My main purpose was to twin with a school in Kyiv and experience first-hand how the children, young adults and their education are being affected by the conflict.

The programme was incredibly intense with early starts, breakfast meetings and a packed excursion schedule throughout the day and late into the evenings. This was all completely normal for the three politicians from the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties, but my head was spinning with the amount of information and events that we experienced.

One of the toughest things was the missile warnings. For a warzone novice like myself, it was alarming to say the least - the night before our arrival, there had been a successful missile attack on Kyiv, the effects of which were still reverberating around the capital as we stepped off the night train from Lviv. On a personal note, I was trapped in a fire escape stairwell during one such warning, which was sobering to say the least.

The most uplifting moment was finally visiting the school with which we are twinning: ‘Lyceum No. 53’. After various tours and taking part in some lessons, I was privileged enough to be invited to play and sing a song that I had written for them. The whole school gathered and it was a joyous occasion. Being invited by some students to teach a lesson and to discuss various matters with them was the highlight of the trip and it had a profound effect. They were so calm, so eloquent and inquisitive - the school was almost in a state of zen. The resilience in the face of adversity was inspiring.

Over the coming days, we met soldiers in prosthetics hospitals, medical workers who were present during a hospital missile attack and various influential people who would be able to make a difference to the lives of those affected. Needless to say, the whole experience was quite unforgettable.

What was the main lesson from this unusual humanitarian trip? That hope springs eternal and that humans are extraordinarily able even in the most alarming of situations.

Meanwhile, the twinning and our ‘100 year partnership’ has started in earnest.

TOM

ROGERSON

Headmaster www.cottesmoreschool.com

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