As many of you know, my hometown, Zaporizhzhia, has been going through extremely difficult times since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The city is shelled almost daily, and sadly many small businesses are being forced to close.

One of these is a private English school called Busy Bee, run by my close friend Julia and her husband. They built the school completely from scratch, driven purely by passion and love for teaching children.

Because of constant blackouts, power cuts and the cold weather, nearly all of their funds have been spent on purchasing a new generator after the old one broke down. On top of that, they now have daily fuel costs just to keep the electricity on and the building warm. Rent and utility bills have not been reduced, which has made the situation even more challenging.

They are now kindly asking for support to help cover the children’s basic learning needs and to make lessons a little more enjoyable during such hard times.