Caroline Baudry, edited by Laura Laplaud
modified to
07:02, August 31, 2022
100,000 Ukrainian refugees have been welcomed to France since the start of the Russian invasion, according to the latest count from the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii). They are mainly women and children, who will return to French schools tomorrow. In the academy of Amiens, which brings together the departments of Aisne, Oise and the Somme, around 300 Ukrainians were in school at the end of July, according to figures from the academy, out of 350,000 students. Among them, Oleh and his little sister Khrystyna will return tomorrow to the Saint-Dominique private institute in Mortefontaine, which welcomed them when they arrived last spring.
“I want to go to school !”
The holiday suitcases are not yet unpacked in the big house where Bohdana and her two children are staying. Khrystyna, 10, is reviewing French words from her notebook from last year with her mother. “The parrot, the hamster…”, lists the little girl, “I want to go to school!”
His older brother, Oleg is entering 5th grade. On the program: the poems of Jean de La Fontaine to learn French, lessons in mathematics, English and sport, his favorite activity. “I started basketball here…I’m ready, I want to see my friends!”
“I didn’t know it was possible to be so welcoming”
“We don’t know any Ukrainians here,” continues his mother. “They need children, other children. They are integrated into the class,” she explains. “I was very surprised, I didn’t know it was possible to be so welcoming! Of course, they always think about going back to Ukraine. But thanks to these students and teachers, they are good. It’s a great job these teachers are doing. I thank them.”
School fees, bus transport and the canteen are offered to Bohdana’s two children. Accustomed to small Ukrainian uniforms, all they have to do is choose, for the first time, the outfit they will wear tomorrow for their return to school.