Viktoria Kononenko 14, female from Kharkiv

Hi, my name is Vika Kononenko and I am 14 years old. I like reading, listening to music, coloring pictures by numbers and squeezing cats and animals in general, it’s my hobby. When I was about 10 years old, I went to karate for a year. I wanted to be cool like everyone else at that age and chase boys between classes to prove that I could stand up for myself. But after a year, I realized it wasn’t for me. First, let the boys chase me, not me chasing them, and second, I realized that it really wasn’t for me. All of a sudden I kind of burned out on it. But now I love reading, both electronic and print books, and not just books. There’s something peaceful about it, or something.

And I myself and my family come from Kharkiv region, from the long-forgotten village of Slatino. My family consists of 4 people. Me, my mom, my dad and my older brother. Only all of them are in different places. Dad has been fighting and defending the country since 2022, my brother is long grown up, he is 22 years old, he moved out from us about a year ago and we rarely see each other. My mom and I are alone, but my mom works all the time and when she is home she is busy working too. Everyone’s mental and even physical state has changed a lot during these two years of war, and now everyone is having a hard time in their own way.

Cats are a good remedy for all that stress and nerves, seriously. We have a cat Rosa and a cat Tom, and I will say that they are really calming, suitable as an anti-stress, and as a furry wonder that you admire and take care of every day, it is, I will say, not a bad distraction. What else can I say, school is a lot of pressure too. I’m already in 9th grade, exams are coming up, and I need to prepare. Admittedly, I’m not an excellent student, but I’m not a bad student either. I try to understand the topics and kind of even get it, and English, by the way, my favorite subject, please note!!!… I don’t understand much in it, and its level is very low, but I still study, right? And the further I go, the better and more I learn. I am sure that sooner or later I will succeed and I will start speaking English in such a way that a native speaker won’t even be able to tell whether I am a foreigner or a native.