Portrait of the Youth from Youth Hub – Nataliia Kretinina
Nataliia, the young refugee from Ukraine: “If I could change one thing, it would be to make sure there are no more wars.”
Almost every day, there are over 30 young people at the Youth Hub who stubbornly fill the center with the energy and enthusiasm typical of their age. It’s never quiet, not even when we seek it, because there is always a new activity, a new person.
And why should it be? When you’re searching for yourself at 16, there’s no room for quiet. We’ve learned this from every teenager and young person who has crossed our threshold in the past year.
Their resilience, compassion, curiosity, and zest for life continue to teach us, day by day. Even when they make us angry, even when we scold them, and especially when they show us that the world does not go unnoticed by them. Just as they do not go unnoticed by us.
Still, we have been selfish and kept them close, so close that we haven’t known how to show them to you as well, so we can learn from them together. Until now.
In their moment of teenage eternity, we captured their portraits and invite you to discover a small piece of who the young people at the Hub are – with passions, dreams, and memories.
Before the war, Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city on the Sea of Azov, had a population of 480,000. Nataliia Kretinina, her sister, and her parents lived a normal life there. After the siege, the situation no longer allowed them to stay in the place they loved.
The biggest obstacle for Nataliia and her family was leaving the Russian-occupied area. Support came from a family who helped them leave the war zone. The 16-year-old sees August 12, 2022, as a new beginning. It’s the day they all arrived in Bucharest.
Romania’s capital left a good impression on her, seeing helpful people everywhere. She did not encounter any hate speech, and even if she had, she would not have wanted to tell us about it.
Nataliia looks at the glass half full. During her time in our country, she has already made many Romanian friends from Bucharest, Sinaia, and even Sibiu.
She likes to spend her free time with her family, in the park or any other place: “We especially go to Tineretului Park, where my 6-year-old sister feels very good”, says Nataliia.
At Youth Hub, she enjoys that the young people and staff are kind and very funny. She heard about the Hub from a friend and was very curious to discover this place.
Nataliia, a teenager like any other
She is happy whenever we order pizza and hopes to attend a The Weeknd concert in the future. She likes the color purple and is passionate about the beauty industry. She even already has a job in the field and is very happy that she managed to start practicing in the direction that interests her. She believes that not many people succeed in this.
Her favorite season is autumn because she was born on the last day of autumn. Like many at the Hub, she would like to have the superpower to read minds. Speaking of superpowers, she mentions what has supported her during this period: “Travel books and fantasy books have inspired me. I listened to Ukrainian music (which I like very much) and songs in English. And for movies, I watch anything”, says Nataliia Kretinina.
In the end, we asked her to leave a message for Ukraine: “Ukraine is my country, and I love my country!”
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