“I work with these people all day, every day, and they’re terrified for their safety,” she said.

About two years ago, Manoff started ENGin, a nonprofit that connects Ukrainian teenagers and young adults with volunteers, mostly in the United States, who are around the same age and are either mother tongue or are fluent in English. The pairs meet on Zoom and other platforms to have conversations in English and talk about their lives and culture. A few dozen volunteers live in Connecticut.

ENGin participant Alla Kuliechova, who spoke to Hearst Connecticut Media via Zoom from Kyiv shortly after noon (EST) Thursday, said she joined the program in part so she could help her fellow Ukrainians improve their English.

Kuliechova said the sound of the explosions woke her up at 5 a.m. Thursday. Ukraine is about seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

“At first I thought maybe it was just my paranoia because we’ve been living with this invasion for a very long time,” said Kuliechova, who is 23. But then the news confirmed his fears.

“It’s our worst nightmare coming to life,” she said.

Kuliechova had planned to have dinner Thursday with her father, who was celebrating his wedding anniversary. Instead, she said, they swapped addresses for bomb shelters.

Long queues formed outside stores as people sought to buy food and supplies during the day, she said, and cars crowded the roads as some people were trying to evacuate the city.

“I really hope people around the world will see that Ukraine absolutely deserves to be free of this – that we are not Russia’s pawn or NATO’s pawn,” Kuliechova said. “We are a nation with a very rich culture, and we would do anything to preserve it and to help ourselves and each other survive.”

Manoff said ENGin asked volunteers to learn from their peers in Ukraine and “follow their lead.”

“Some students may want a break. (Some) may want some normalcy and want a chance to connect,” Manoff said. “Others won’t have internet access or will be too stressed to speak in English.”

The nonprofit had just hired additional staff and was rolling out plans to expand its programming — “and, today, we just had to shut it all down,” Manoff said.

But once she knows her staff are safe, she says, “we’re going to start over because…I think what we’re doing is one of the best ways to fight” Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin is “trying to isolate Ukraine”, Manoff said. “And we’re connecting Ukraine, and we’re not going to stop doing that.”

Manoff was born in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and grew up in Stamford. She moved to the United States with her family when she was 8 because her brother had health problems related to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, she said.

After attending college and living elsewhere in the United States, she returned to Stamford – her “second hometown” – with her husband and their children.

Stamford has a large Ukrainian population and is home to the Stamford Ukrainian Museum and Library, which describes itself as the oldest Ukrainian cultural institution in North America. St. Vladimir’s Cathedral on Wenzel Terrace is one of 10 Connecticut parishes in the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford.

Manoff said the larger goal of her program was to help connect Ukraine to opportunities beyond its borders through English, she said.

“I think that for Ukraine to develop economically (and) strengthen democracy, it is very important to establish links with the West, and without English it is impossible to establish these links,” said said Manoff, who described English as the “world language”. for business, science, education, arts and information technology, among other sectors.

The ENGin program, which is free and funded by private donations, focuses on English language practice, something Ukrainian students may not have much of a chance to do at school, where lessons are focus more on reading and writing the language.

“They’re studying, but they’re not learning the speaking component, so that’s the void we’re trying to fill,” Manoff said. “And, really, how do you learn to speak? Well, you have to have a real person to talk to, right? »

After a few months, “our students are much more confident speaking English,” she said.

In total, about 6,000 Ukrainian English learners and about 5,000 English-speaking volunteers have now participated in the program. The hope is to “build long-term one-on-one relationships where even after leaving the program, they will ideally remain friends,” Manoff said.

ENGin’s staff, which includes people who interview program applicants, is based in the United States and Ukraine.

Before the invasion, Manoff said his nonprofit organization was launching a new program for English teachers in Ukrainian schools. The idea, she said, is to help teachers express themselves so they feel more comfortable teaching students to speak.

Another objective of the program is cultural exchange. Some volunteer tutors know very little about Ukraine before they start talking with a peer who lives there, Manoff said.

Volunteers, who can apply their hours to community service requirements, do not need to have teaching experience, she said. Instead, they receive ENGin training.

“We really want this to be open to everyone,” Manoff said.