The following article comes from Tatiana Popa, Head of Global Education and English teacher at Heritage International School, Moldova
The decade of 2020s seems to try and surprise humankind in the most unbelievable way.
First of all, when we all seemed to be thinking that the modern man had evolved enough not to worry about the basic needs, God came to remind us that we are neither unbreakable nor immortal.
The Covid-19 global pandemic took us all by surprise. Countries and communities had to re-invent the course of their daily lives and to adapt to ‘the new normal’ – a term that came to sum up the crazy time at the beginning of 2020, when new rules to the daily lives were applied, just to fit in and to be able to carry on, even in a pandemic. It’s two years of keeping distance, wearing face masks and keeping our hand hygiene at the highest level.
For educators, the pandemic brought additional challenges, as entire educational systems had to switch to distance learning. For those school communities that used technology on a daily basis, the transition was quick and easy, while for others it meant challenges, such as the need for technology and teacher training. Heritage International School has been used as a model at national level in Moldova, and around the world, too.
Lately, when we imagined that we could handle the pandemic a bit, with vaccines in place to reduce the death rates and to only get mild forms of Covid, we opened our eyes to witness an armed conflict.
Following several weeks of warnings in the media, which I refused categorically to believe, I woke up on Thursday morning to the boom of crashing missiles. Initially, my thought was that it was crazy to let off fireworks in the early morning. But the noise was very different. My heart froze with fear.
All our way to school, between driving, sobbing and wiping tears, I was trying to have a conversation with my two daughters, whom I informed that my suspicion was confirmed online – Russia invaded Ukraine.
As a history lover, I read many books on war. But I wanted the war to stay in the books, so that my children learn about war atrocities, fear, hunger and despair only from the books, not from real life. Life proved me wrong.
In school, the atmosphere was one of graveyard silence. The school was full, only our hearts were all empty.
People don’t see my tears too often, but that morning a colleague entered to ask something and saw me crying in my room. In such moments you don’t really know what to say, especially as an international teacher to a local one. The words fail in such cases, only the compassion is there. The local teachers were crying in the staff rooms, so that students couldn’t see. Everybody was too shocked to utter words.
Moments later, I went to check on my grade 9 that morning and asked them how they were, as I usually do. They all knew what the noise was, I could see it in their sad eyes, but no one dared say anything. One girl asked me: “Ms Tatiana, could we give you a hug, please?” That was the moment when tears came into my eyes, standing there in front of my children, and I replied “Of course!” Students are only used to seeing me smiling, but not on that day. They came to get a hug and no words were needed. It was a terribly sad day at Heritage on the 24th of February, 2022.
It’s my fifth year at Heritage school, me being part of staff from the very opening, but the last two years have definitely made us feel more united in face of adversity – first, the pandemic, now – an imminent war.
And it’s not only the teachers, but the families as well. We feel like a large family that unites to celebrate our bright days and to help in our darkest moments.
Our families are very responsive when it comes to social responsibility. We regularly organise various charity events in the school, where we collect donations for orphanages, animal shelters, or charity organisations.
With the outbreak of war in Ukraine, we started immediately taking action and announced to the community about donations this week – it is truly impressive to see how caring and kind our community members are. It’s not just our school, it’s the entire country in this! At Heritage, parcels with goods for the refugees keep on entering the school gates every morning, reminding each of us that we are in a better place than all the Ukrainian citizens facing war.
Families take refugees in their houses, hosting them for a night or more, as if they were a far-away relative that came to visit suddenly.
In addition, our older Student Council members are part of voluntary youth organisations in Chisinau and they helped during the weekend to collect and sort the donations at the donation collecting centres. How extremely proud we are of these selfless and caring young people! The future doesn’t seem worrisome with the support of such intelligent and kind souls!
”War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Bertrand Russell
Moreover, our school founders have offered our Zimbru football field to be the home for more than 60 Ukrainian refugees. People offer their homes to unknown people, making sure they have everything they need and thus offering some solace to people in need, people who didn’t want to leave their country or homes.
On the first day of spring, we celebrate Mărțisor at Heritage and students have a non-uniform day. We proudly wear our red and white symbol of love and hope. Each class chooses one colour to wear. For the day, my students and I decided to wear the colours of the Ukrainian flag – yellow and pale blue, in order to show our full support to the Ukrainian people. They represent our Mărțisor this year.
I have always been proud of my country and nation, but these past days the sense of unity and common goal was so present, that it reminded me why Moldovans are so truly special, and why I haven’t emigrated yet, despite having the chance to do so on many occasions.
Having said that, I can’t be a global educator in time of war and not receive messages and calls from all my educator friends in all the corners of our planet. They all want to know how we are here, they all offer their support, and many of them offer me their own home to go to. I can’t be more grateful for knowing these people and calling them my friends! Anyway, if I am to flee Moldova, I know for sure I will have a place in Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Wales, Spain, Italy or Portugal.
P.S. Global School Alliance is a team of the most amazingly caring educators.
