Peremoha is the Ukrainian word for Victory.
The Peremoha Mini-Grants program was launched in the summer of 2022 in response to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers can apply together with a Ukrainian partner. Funding priorities for the program include humanitarian aid to Ukrainian communities, psychosocial support and training, and projects aligned with sectors previously implemented by Peace Corps Ukraine: community development, youth development, education, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. We are proud to share with you the stories of the Alliance’s Peremoha grantees.
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RPCV: Sarah Friedman, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 2011-2014
Ukrainian Partner: Lidiia, School Principal
Region: Poltavs’ka Oblast
Over 3,790 education facilities in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed since Russia launched its full-scale military invasion in February 2022. “Ukrainian children have paid a high price in this war because attacks on education are attacks on their future,” says Human Rights Watch. Additional learning loss occurs when schools must resort to online or hybrid instruction. Ukraine’s Ministry of Education data cited by Save the Children indicate that in May 2023, only 33% of Ukrainian students were attending school in person, whereas 36.9% were learning online and 30.1% in a blended online/in-person format. Air raids that force everyone underground also disrupt learning, either directly during school hours or by causing sleep deprivation overnight.
Currently, in Poltava, Ukraine, air sirens warning that Russian missiles may be coming occur 3-4 times per day. Everyone in the town is forced to run to their buildings’ basements, which are often unheated, until the warnings finish. Lidiia, the principal of a school for children aged 6-17, turned the basement of the school into an air raid shelter so children may continue to learn, even through the war. She had to finish the basement, raise money for chairs and desks, and ensure the ventilation was good enough for so many people to be underground for so long. The school’s air raid shelter is now one of the safest places in their town.
“The school used the bunker almost every day, as there were alerts every day, sometimes even several times a day. The duration of the alerts was different from 40 minutes minimum to 4 hours maximum. I found the statistics on air alarms in Poltava region in May. It says 78 alarms only in May,” Lidiia said.
“We are so eager to have a day and night without air attacks, to go somewhere on holidays, at least to have holidays. I could have never thought that we would be deprived of these simple human joys.”
—Lidiia, School Principal in Ukraine
Lidiia received $1,500 for her Peremoha grant to purchase 50 liters of primer ($427) for the school basement, so students wouldn’t breath in toxic dust. She also used grant funds to purchase 35 desks and chairs for her school ($1,073 ), so students would have a place to sit while in the basement. She raised money for the remaining 65 chairs herself.
She needed 100 extra chairs this school year because she was expecting at least 100 additional students to come to her school. Although the number of students is constantly in flux, she currently has 698 students aged 6-17, of whom 69 are internally displaced children. 
Sarah and Lidiia continue to raise money for repairs and to stock the school’s food shelf. They have a Patreon account where you can learn more about Lidiia’s school, donate, and purchase digital art her students painted in a school-wide competition. All funds donated via Patreon will go directly to the school.
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Peremoha Mini-Grants like this one are made possible by your charitable contributions to our Grants Fund, and by proceeds from sales of Babusya’s Kitchen cookbook. Thank you for your support.