One of the most prominent lessons I’ve learned while mentoring Kateryna has been the importance of community, and more notably, the negative effects of isolation. Kateryna and her family are completely removed from other Ukrainians refugees in Tallahassee. The one person who had the capacity to relate to the devastation caused by the Ukrainian war was Kateryna’s grandmother, who left to return to Ukraine after residing in the US with them for a few months. Her grandmother believed it better to be in war torn Kyiv than isolated in Tallahassee.
The effects of Kat’s lack of community have been extremely evident. Kateryna loves to tell me about her Ukrainian school life, friends, daily activities, cultural foods, and memories from her childhood, in what I believe to be her way of holding onto her home. Without other Ukrainian refugees to relate, I am the next person to listen and ask about the things she misses most.
Beyond her status as a refugee, Kateryna is still just a 12 year old girl. Where most children over the summer are playing with friends and going on vacation, Kat has been isolated from her peers. Now that Kat’s summer camp at TCC has ended, she has been stuck in her home, taking on a larger role in taking care of Elena. The isolation from kids her age and increased childcare responsibility have seemed to make her more mellow and mature for her age. I can’t help but wonder what Kat would be like surrounded by her friends from Ukraine.
While I’ve learned an immense amount about Ukrainian culture through my mentorship with Kat, I don’t feel as though I’ve joined a new community. Rather, I feel as though my job as her mentor has been to integrate her into mine, or more generically, into American society. The difficulty in helping her find community lies in my inability to replace the comfort of another Ukrainian or be a peer that’s her own age. I’m optimistic that once the school year starts, Kateryna will be able to form her own community inside of her new school.
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