A youth center was built in the destroyed library: how the youth of Novohryhorivka bring life back to the broken village

Opening of the «Youth Center» in Novohryhorivka. Photo by Kateryna Melnychenko

On May 3, residents of the village of Novohryhorivka, Shevchenkove community, in the Mykolaiv region, opened a youth center in the building of a library destroyed by Russian shelling.

This is stated in the article NikVesti «Grandson washed his hands with water flowing from the ceiling». Report from Novohryhorivka».

Russian munitions destroyed the cultural center in Novohryhorivka. Only the broken walls remained of the building where the villagers used to hold all the holidays and concerts. Next to the cultural center is the local library, which was also damaged by a shell. Fortunately, the library was less damaged, and it is possible to restore the building. Therefore, the youth of Novohryhorivka, 16-17-year-olds, one day decided to independently repair the library building and set up a youth center in it.

«We are in our future youth center, it used to be a library. My friends and I decided to rebuild this building. There were 5 of us, we cleaned it all ourselves, built the wall, wanted to rest here,» said one of the organizers of the work, Kateryna Melnychenko.

Young people started posting videos about how the damaged library building is being restored, as a result of which they were noticed by volunteers who helped them get a grant of 150,000 hryvnias. With these funds, the young men bought the necessary building materials.

«Two weeks later, we started posting videos from here on social networks, we were noticed by an organization, and they submitted a grant for the reconstruction of our center. And two weeks later, we were the only ones in the Mykolaiv region to win this grant. It was a grant for 150 thousand. And now our American friends are helping us decorate the walls inside to make it more comfortable,» said Kateryna Melnychenko.

construction of the «Youth Center» in Novohryhorivka. Screenshot from the video

construction of the «Youth Center» in Novohryhorivka. Screenshot from the video

American friends, as Kateryna said, is an American Christian organization that helps residents of Novohryhorivka to rebuild housing. They have been working in the village since June 2023 and have rebuilt about 60 roofs during this time.

We will remind you that in November 2023 in Mykolaiv they planned to equip a space that will become a center of creativity and self-realization for local youth.

It was also reported that a youth hub will be opened in Mykolaiv in the spring of 2024 — a space for implementing projects and exchanging experiences between young people from different regions of Ukraine and Denmark.