Light for Childhood: how a kindergarten in Zaporizhzhia keeps working during blackouts

When prolonged electricity outages followed targeted attacks by the Russian Armed Forces on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, cities and villages across the country were plunged into darkness, with heating and water supplies repeatedly disrupted. 

In Zaporizhzhia, a frontline city in southeastern Ukraine, Hanna had already made a step she had dreamed of for several years – opening a small kindergarten. The kindergarten follows Waldorf education principles, where the focus is on the child’s natural development, what they are ready for at a given moment, and the rhythm they live in. Children paint, move a lot, learn through play and everyday tasks, and rest in a quiet room after lunch. 

But when the first blackouts hit, it became clear that without electricity the kindergarten would fall into darkness—without light or heat, and without the ability to function as a safe space for children or continue its daily activities. 

With support from the “Forsage” project, implemented by the NGO Ukrprostir with technical support from UN Women Ukraine and funding from the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), Hanna received grants for training and developing the kindergarten, and later – a portable power station. This support allowed the kindergarten to continue operating during blackouts, and enabled her son to continue studying online. 

For Hanna, staying open during blackouts was not just a question of comfort, it was the difference between moving forward and shutting down. It also gave parents the reassurance that they could leave their children in a safe, caring, and dignified environment. Through the “Forsage” project (implemented by NGO Ukrprostir with technical support from UN Women Ukraine and funding from WPHF), she received support that helped her strengthen the kindergarten and adapt to outages.  

Hanna Horbach at a kindergarten that follows Waldorf education principles. Zaporizhzhia, 2025. Photo: Olha Kalinchuk

When the power goes out 

In October 2025, by the second month of the kindergarten’s work, its schedule had to be adjusted to electricity outage timetables. Without power, the electric kettle, lighting and heating stopped working. 

“We couldn’t even make tea for the children without electricity. They come for half a day, and we have to give them something warm. I would arrive at the time when, according to the schedule, the power was supposed to be on, and prepare a thermos. That’s how we managed for some time.” 

The security alarm system in the building posed additional challenges. The building is connected to an alarm, and once the backup battery drained during outages, the alarm began to beep. This was both loud and distressing – especially for the children. 

“Blackout is not only about the absence of light. Generators are buzzing outside, there is the smell of diesel, and you can’t see anything on the roads. If pedestrians don’t have reflectors, you simply can’t see them. The city feels… switched off,” says Hanna. 

By the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, electricity outages have become an additional challenge for many families, overlapping with regular shelling, air-raid sirens, and the nighttime noise of enemy missiles and drones. 

“It is emotionally exhausting. At night you may not sleep because of strikes, and during the day you try to do things – with the children, in the kindergarten, at home – and there is no electricity.” 

The situation changed when, within the Forsage project supported by UN Women and WPHF, Hanna received a portable power station. It allowed the kindergarten to continue working even during prolonged outages. 

“Thanks to the power station we have heating, water, light, we can work on the second floor of the building, and conduct evening workshops with mothers.” 

For Hanna, blackouts affected not only the kindergarten. Her son studies online at a Waldorf school in Kharkiv, and each outage meant a risk of missing lessons. 

“If there is no electricity, there is no studying. And we only learn the schedule for the next day at 21:00. In November 2025 we were running across the city: wherever there was power — that’s where we studied. One day my son was with me at the kindergarten, another – at home, and the third – with a laptop somewhere else. It was difficult.” 

Now her son spends the day at the kindergarten. Thanks to electricity and internet there, he can study online throughout the day, without having to adapt to unstable city-wide outage schedules. 

How the kindergarten started 

Hanna’s path to opening a Waldorf kindergarten began long before the blackouts. After 2014 when her Crimea was illegally annexed by the Russian Federation, she and her family had to relocate to Zaporizhzhia. Trained as an educator and psychologist, she turned to conscious parenting and Waldorf pedagogy after the birth of her son. 

When he entered first grade, COVID-19 moved schools across Ukraine into remote learning. That was when Hanna began to look more closely into different education approaches and eventually discovered Waldorf pedagogy. Interest soon turned into a professional choice: she completed two Waldorf teacher-training courses – a foundation course and a course for primary school teachers. 

She completed full qualification thanks to participation in a grant competition under the Forsage project – an initiative implemented by NGO Ukrprostir with support from UN Women Ukraine and funding from WPHF. Hanna applied for learning support, received funding, and completed the course for middle school teachers, earning her Waldorf teacher diploma. 

“Around the same time the next stage of the grant competition started – this time for opening one’s own business. I felt that everything was aligning for this. I decided not to start with a school but with a kindergarten – it is much easier to form a school when children already grow out of the kindergarten, know the method, and can smoothly transition to Waldorf education,” explains Hanna. 

With a second grant within the project supported by UN Women Ukraine and WPHF, she was able to equip 12 sleeping places in the kindergarten: previously there were only bed frames; now there were mattresses, pillows, blankets, and bedding. 

“Without the grant the quality would have been completely different. We would have bought cheaper materials or done everything very slowly. This way we could purchase good-quality items that will last long.” 

“I realised that for every obstacle there is a solution” 

For Hanna, participating in the Forsage project was important not only because of grant support, but also because of a shift in how she sees her own possibilities. 

“First of all, I stopped perceiving obstacles as an end. I realised that almost every obstacle has a solution,” she says. 

Within the project she learned the basics of business planning and financial calculations, and gained knowledge on registering as an individual entrepreneur and running social media. The community of women, other project’s participants, became equally important: 

“At networking meetings we talked to each other. Where I saw a problem, someone else saw a solution. It gave the feeling that you are not alone.” 

Despite proximity to the frontline and prolonged blackouts, the family decided to remain in Zaporizhzhia. Hanna dreams that the kindergarten will grow into a Waldorf school and eventually have several locations in the city. 

Asked what she would say to women who are making first steps toward their own business in times of war, Hanna answers briefly: 

“Don’t stand still. Take steps and things will open up.” 

The Forsage project was produced by NGO Ukrprostir, funded by The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) with technical support of UN Women Ukraine.  

The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) mobilizes critical support for local and grassroots civil society organizations working on women, peace and security and humanitarian action. WPHF is a flexible and rapid financing mechanism supporting quality interventions designed to enhance the capacity of women to prevent conflict, respond to crises and emergencies, and seize key peacebuilding opportunities.  

This publication was produced with funding from the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), however, the views expressed and content included does not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.