This week saw a rather unexpected exchange of New Year greetings between TTRK students and students from Kharkiv School for Children with Special Needs No 12. It all started when former Kharkiv resident 
Those who have been following the situation regarding Russia’s attack on Ukraine know that almost every night there are rocket and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. The city of Kharkiv, just thirty kilometres from the Russian border, is no exception. School No. 12 was attacked by Russia in July 2022, and the building suffered significant damage as a result of that bombing, as well as subsequent attacks. This did not, however, prevent the school, which, incidentally, is attended by visually impaired children, from functioning.
In addition, Anželika Ibrahimova is the founder and leader of Asteriks, a Kharkiv-based youth volunteering organisation for high school and university students. The members of “Asterix” help children with disabilities in boarding schools in Kharkiv and the region. Special School No. 12 is one of the boarding schools whose students were unable to evacuate, many staying in the city on the frontline.
Igor Kalakauskas, with the support of 3rd grade teachers Alla Vares, Olesya Ofitserova and Ella Polovinchyuk, recorded a New Year’s Eve performance by TTRK 3rd grade students for the 3rd and 4th graders of Kharkiv School on 4 December. This video clip was published on Youtube and a link was sent to Ukraine. 8. On 5 December, those who were approached by our Year 3 students (and these were personal appeals to each of the 15 students) saw the video and couldn’t help but respond. 9. On 1 December, TTRK students saw a video map of Kharkov sent in response.
For ethical reasons, we do not consider it appropriate to provide a direct link to both videos, but only provide screenshots. However, we feel it is necessary to note that the spontaneous exchange of congratulations was intended to create what is commonly referred to as empathy in Estonian schoolchildren. We know that many of those who watched these videos could not hold back tears – so sincere were the children’s emotions in these videos.
We are all familiar, to one degree or another, with the horrors of a war that has been going on for almost four years. But we often forget that it did not only affect the military, but also ordinary people. It hit children particularly hard, who lost loved ones and were forced to leave their homes. In our school, children of Ukrainian refugees are enrolled in almost every class. Therefore, the story of this video exchange can be seen as a lesson in humanity. 
We would like to express our gratitude not only to the teachers and students of TTRK, but also to the parents of our students who helped the children to find the right words.
