*UkrainianGirlsGymnastics

 

Now, I am trying to help the Ukrainian National Aesthetic Group gymnastics team, who are from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and left with nothing at home. I am trying to bring them to the USA till war is over and team has something to come back to so they are able to train in a safe space and recuperate from the horrible war experience the entire team of 10 girls had. (estimate: $10,000 for airplane tickets + $65,000 for the accommodation, food, apparel, transportation, the rhythmic gear for the training for up to 2 year.)

Hello, my name is Elina, I am the captain of AGG National Team - Alcor Mizar. We are from Kharkiv, Ukraine. I would like to tell you a story about us. We are a team of 10, who just not too long ago, had an amazing life: going to school, trying hard for the world cup, visiting friends, going to parks, sitting in the coffee shops, having ice cream, hugging our loved ones together and creating lovely memories together.

On 24th of February we all woke up at 4:00 a.m. to the sound of something blowing up. Apartment buildings were shaking.We all live in different parts of Hakov. My teammates began to send on our group chat videos from bombs dropping. We realized the war had started.It was a moment of panic. No one knew what to do. Lots of phone calls and texts to figure out what to do or where to go.We decided to go to a friend's house with my family as we lived in an apartment and they were in their own home. We spend one month in the basement of a house without power or heat. In a month we lost our home, our school and our training facility.

Teammate Katya -Katya was born in Donetsk and in 2014 her and her family had to run from there due to Russian invading that territory. They moved to Kharkiv. Katya was really happy to find a new home, new school, new friends, new team but now it's all gone just like in 2014.

Teammate Taya - On the 25th, Taya with her female part of the family went to her grandparents, 30 km from Kharkiv, Zmiiv. First two days were peaceful. TWO DAYS!!! Then rockets started to come. We were in the apartment building. Part of the rocket came into our apartment. All the windows were gone. And for 30 days we lived in our hallway without windows. Spring was cold.

Teammate Lisa - After seconds of explosion we came to look out of the windows and we saw Ukrainian tanks driving on our street. We live in a house in the town Derhachi, not too far from Kharkiv. I cannot tell what I felt at that time. It's a war?! We all went to the basement. It was cold and moldy and small. We spent 2 weeks there then my brother, Mom and I decided that we have to try to leave as my dad and uncle went to fight.

Our goal was to drive 180 km. Drive was very long. Lots of traffic. No gas, no food at the gas station. In 2 weeks we saw planes flying over our heads, dropping bombs. We saw rockets, we saw tanks. We heard explosions. We saw people being killed on our street.

Teammate Arina - We spent our life in our hallway as our apartment building was shot time after time every 20 minutes from February 24th till now.  Sometimes we would run down to bomb shelter (basement of our apartment building) but after 30 days we have decided to stay in the basement. I'm writing this as I hear shooting outside.

Teammate Alina -We lived for a week in the basement. We heard airplanes flying and dropping bombs. My dad decided to drive us to west Ukraine and he returned to Harkov to fight as of 2 days ago. Bombs are dropping here. We are in Lviv now. We have no place to go. I'm scared.

Teammate Elya - We spent 10 days in Kharkiv at the beginning of the war. We were in the bomb shelter. Things were hard, lack of food and water. Lots of fears. Then we decided to go to Odessa. It was ok at first, calm. But a week ago Russians came to Odessa. We don't know what to do next. 

This is what some of my teammates are going through. We are all scared. We all had big dreams for this season and to represent Ukraine in World Cups and World Championships for Aesthetic Group Gymnastics

We all ran out of our homes with one backpack. We want peace. We want our lives back and Ukraine to be in peace. We all want to make a difference. We want to come to America to continue training to make Ukraine proud. We are the Ukrainian national team!