Portrait of the Youth from Youth Hub – Andrei Marina
Portrait of the Youth from Youth Hub: The Manifesto for a Balanced Life by Andrei Marina, a Refugee from Slatina, Ukraine
Their resilience, compassion, curiosity, and zest for life continue to teach us every day. Even when they anger us, when we scold them, and especially when they show us that the world doesn’t pass by unnoticed. Just as they don’t go unnoticed by us.
However, we’ve been selfish, keeping them so close that we didn’t know how to share them with you, so we could all learn from them. Until now.
In their moment of eternal adolescence, we captured their portraits and invite you to discover a small piece of who the youth at the Hub are – with their passions, dreams, and memories.
At 16, Andrei Marina, from the Transcarpathian region of Slatina, Ukraine, seems to have found balance through sports, rest, healthy meals, and meaningful meetings at Youth Hub. He wishes for other teenagers to follow his example.
Until February 10, 2023, Andrei had never heard of a missile falling in Slatina, Ukraine. But living in a city where the electricity was on only at night, for twelve hours, became impossible.
“I couldn’t live there anymore. That’s how we decided to move to Bucharest”, Andrei tells us in Romanian, in the large upstairs room of the Youth Hub.
When he came to Romania and introduced himself as Ukrainian, the Bucharest residents, whom he considered good people from the start, were surprised that the teenager spoke Romanian so well.
Even on the day of our interview, someone told him the same thing: “I never would have thought you’re from Ukraine!” Every time he hears this, he feels happy. He knows he has an advantage that can help.
The most valuable memories he has with his family are built here, with us, the place where they all reunited: “Before settling in Romania, we met rarely, once or twice a year. Now even my father was with us for a while.”
He has a 28-year-old brother who works in IT, a 24-year-old sister with a degree in Legal Studies, his mother works at a kindergarten in Bucharest, and his father is currently in the Czech Republic. He feels close to them and is glad that his older brother takes care of him.
Andrei wants to attend a Dorian Popa concert
He maintains his mental balance through a lot of sports, participating in activities at the Youth Hub, a center he has been coming to for four months, and outings with his brother and his Romanian friends, “because my brother’s friends are also my friends.”
He often goes to the gym and relaxes either at the Fountains in Unirii Square, watching Fantasy series, or reading history books, or Greek and Scandinavian mythology. He would love to go to a concert where Dorian Popa is performing.
His meals don’t include fried foods, but he doesn’t say no to a pizza. We asked him what was the biggest obstacle he overcame and what helped him face it. He answered that he hadn’t had any.
If he could change one thing in the world, it would be for teenagers to stop drinking alcohol and smoking. Instead, he wishes they would do a lot of sports. And besides that, he wouldn’t mind: “Reading people’s minds. Finding out what they’re thinking. Or traveling through time.”
A career in IT
The Ukrainian education system has eleven grades. Andrei has entered the eleventh grade. After graduating, he will enroll in a university in Bucharest, studying Cybernetics.
He has already had his first work experience. Everything went normally, but he preferred to quit so he could attend online high school classes. In the future, he would like to have a job in IT: “I like programming”, he says, smiling.
His favorite color is green, which may explain his preference for spring and summer. Nature is alive, and the weather is warm.
The heart of a 16-year-old
Before letting Andrei return to his friends at Youth Hub, with whom he plays football on PlayStation, we asked him what love means to him and if he has ever been in love. “I don’t know. I don’t believe in love. Well, I liked someone, but I don’t believe in love.”
His answer reminded us of the recent duet TAXI x Delia. The song starts like this:
“My 16-year-old heart
Believes that people say exactly what they feel, what they think
Say yes when it’s yes
Say no when it’s no
And I thought that’s how you were too”
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