Progress in the transformation of the Yalynka bomb shelter (Mykulychi)

The Reconstruction project continues its active transformation of children’s bomb shelters for the new academic year to provide preschoolers from Mykulychi and Druzhnia villages with comfortable and safe shelters during air raids. Here is the progress of the renovation of the shelter in Mykulychi.

We remind you that the Mykulychi kindergarten “Yalynka” remained intact during the occupation and now serves as a place of residence not only for preschoolers but also for schoolchildren, as the institution is temporarily operating in two shifts while waiting for the school to be repaired. The kindergarten’s bomb shelter consists of a large hall and technical rooms. It is in the large hall that 3 pre-school groups and senior pupils are staying during the danger.

The Yalynka kindergarten took care of the arrangement of the large hall – basic repairs have already been made here, but this space is not enough, especially for the time when the kindergarten and local schoolchildren attend the building. That is why the Reconstruction team is working on expanding the space for preschoolers, turning one of the technical rooms into additional space for the little ones.

This room will become a small bedroom where preschoolers who need peace and quiet, separated from the large hall, can rest or play during air raids. Our task is to turn this store room into a functional children’s room that will be no different from a regular kindergarten room.

The volunteers of the Reconstruction project began their work on the renovation of this room by clearing the space of old stuff and stripping the walls and ceiling. After that, the following renovation work was carried out in May and June:

• the surfaces of the walls and ceiling were primed;
• painted the ceiling;
• wall defects are plastered;
• the first layer of the wall was painted;
• prepared the floor for screeding.

In addition, other renovations were needed here: volunteers laid a new ventilation duct to replace the hole in the wall that led directly to the street, and replaced the light fixtures. A new door block was also installed and new door was installed.

The large hall also needs improvements: they are preparing to install doors in two aisles to provide better thermal insulation for the children’s comfort in the shelter.

Basic repairs were made possible thanks to a charitable contribution from the Förderkreis Mahnmal St. Nikolai e.V. from Germany. In February-June, the St. Nicholas Memorial hosted our photo exhibition “Chronicles of the Unknown Superheroes Ukrainians” and the Memorial’s foundation was not indifferent to the work carried out by B50. Thanks to the foundation’s help, we were able to purchase construction materials (mixtures, paints), doors and lamps. We are very grateful for their concern and support!

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A lot of work has been done! But the transformation of the bomb shelter continues. In the bedroom, the floor screed needs to be finished, the doors need to be installed, and the walls near the frame need to be decorated. In both rooms, it will be necessary to install electric radiators, which may be the only way of heating here. With such solutions, we aim to make this shelter not only safe and comfortable for children, but also heat and energy efficient, adding functionality to these spaces and the possibility of further use not only as a shelter during air raids.

The volunteers of the Shelters project will soon start their work in Yalynka, adding colour to these spaces by creating murals for preschoolers on the walls of the bedroom and in the play area of the hall and turning these rooms into real bedrooms and play areas where they will feel cosy and not afraid to sit through air raids. The theme of this shelter is children’s DREAMS: in the future bedroom, we want to lull them to sleep in a dreamland, and in the large hall, we will take them on a journey to a dreamland.

Alina, a graduate of the Ampli teen accelerator, which we have already collaborated with on the design of the murals in the Zavorichi shelter, is working on the bedroom sketches, and our volunteer Victoria’s mural will decorate the play area in the hall. Soon, the first sketches will be applied to the walls and decorating will begin, which we will definitely tell (and show!) in the next update.

In the meantime, we invite you to join volunteer trips and help repair or decorate this shelter, trying your hand at a plaster or a paintbrush.