Olesya Krivorotova 14, female from Buzova

I’m 14 years old and I’m grateful for opportunity to visit the USA! First of all I wanna tell you about my family right now we live not far from Kyiv in small village Lybimivka with my parents. My mom’s name is Inna she’s 47 and she was manager of her own dance school before the war but now she can’t get a job, because all important documents are in occupation. Dad’s name is Valeriy he’s 51 and he had very important job he was head of one of the blocks at the Zaporozhskaya nuclear power plant. He made a decision to continue to work during occupation to protect our country from radiation danger, but after one and half year of physical and emotional pressure he decide to go to Ukraine.

Also I have two elder sisters Kate and Stacey. Kate is the oldest child in our family she’s 26 and she has a son, his name is Michael. She doesn’t live with us,but we regularly chat by phone. Stacey is a middle child and she’s 20. She studies at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and she’s an IT programmer and I’m really proud of her. My grandparents and cat live in occupation and I miss them very much. I hope that the war will end soon and I’ll return home. Before the war I lived in Energodar. Energodar is a small but beautiful town in Zaporozhia region, with the great importance for Ukraine.

As for me I’ll finish 8th grade this year and my favourite subjects are English, Chemistry and Algebra. I have been studying English for 6 years but I really want to have an opportunity to communicate with native speakers,I find it very interesting and useful for me. When I have free time I like to do something by my hands. For example, beading and drawing are two of my the most favourite hobbies. I have learned by myself and I’m really enjoy the process. Also I like sport. I have done fly gymnastics for year and two months ago I was trying a horse riding! It’s really interesting, exited and unusual sport! Before the war started I was doing dance and had achievements in this sport, but now I can’t do it and that’s pretty sad.

For me the chance to visit USA is something that hard to imagine… And if I could do this I would be very proud of myself. I find this experience so interesting and useful for my future and I like to try something new! Thank you for this opportunity