E004 Olha Burdeina

Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 0:08 femininity is powerful in all its forms, exceptional women, rare girls must be appreciated in every way for their perspectives, actions, thoughts, and their unique ways of being. Such rare girls are inspiring. And this is what this podcast is all about. Hello, my name is Aziz and my guest today is Olha Burdeina. Olha is a person who is building her life based on strong life principles and convictions. She is the chairman of the Education and Culture committee of the youth council of Bukovina. She has organized and coordinated more than 10 successful projects that have changed the life of the community. And currently, she is an ambassador of European values among the Eastern Partnership countries, as well as a scholarship recipient, and an International Baccalaureate student at the Eastern Partnership European School, be LISI new school in Georgia? All Ha, how are you today, Olha Burdeina 1:25 I'm so thankful and grateful to you for giving me such an opportunity today, to be your guest and to be interviewed by this amazing podcast. I'm in a good frame of mood. But what is happening in my country today is a great amount of elimination. And of course, I suffer a lot. And I feel, really, I feel the great heartbreak. And it leaves the imprint on myself that I give my mood up and I try to be positive. And to keep my chin up. How are you as this? Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 2:02 You're always so eloquent? Thank you. I'm good, although actually I was in Ukraine when the war started, when for eight days, sheltered and barely was able to evacuate, but to ask you in a way that this is a transformative experience. It's negative, of course. But how did the war change you? How were you before that? And how did you become Olha Burdeina 2:33 perfectly honest, war changed my values in a great way. And it played a crucial role in establishing my new reformed values. Before that, I was focusing on other things, and I was not that much mature of some things. But as for now, I realized that my inner potential and my investment in knowledge is the highest priority for me now, and I need to do everything that is possible to rebuild my country. So were provoked such strong emotional feeling and such as strong emotional connection to my country. And now I understand that I'm the real change maker, and I should be like, on, I should invest in my country. And I should do everything that in my hands to do that. And of course, some values changed. Now I became much more close to the beloved people, I realized that some things are not that important for us, they shouldn't be some important, so important to us, we should value some tiny details in our life, we should be thankful and grateful to every single minute and second in our life. And we should realize our potential fully, of course. So as the Ukrainian as the Ukrainian girl and as the representative of younger generation of Ukrainians, I realized that I need to, I need to implement something really valuable for Ukraine and I should invest as much as it is possible in development of authenticity, and uniqueness of our Ukraine. And of course, I should value the smallest details in life. So this is something that changed, but the inner potential and that light and fire inside of me has even more. It became even more inside of me and yet for for this sphere. I'm really, really happy to feel that inside of me that I am motivated and inspired Is to by by the bravery by the courageous of the people, Ukraine and people to promote to promote ours, and to move towards the flourishing era of Ukraine. So this is something that changed inside of me during this period. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 5:17 Thank you. That's wonderful. And in many ways, I love again, your eloquence and your patriotism. One of the guests said that, in one second, when the war started, all Ukrainians transformed into 10 times more patriotic than even before. Do you feel that? And what is your perspective on the current war situation? And what do you think or believe personally will happen next? How will the victory happen? Or will it be a longer war? Or what do you believe so Olha Burdeina 5:54 the 24th of February, of course, was the title date that altered my life that altered the values and priorities as well as destinies of millions of Ukrainians by 360 degrees. And of course, we all became much more patriotic, I should confess that I used to be patriotic, and I am patriotic, and that has that feeling has never ever got away from me. And everything that I was doing all my social work, all my volunteering, all my investment in myself, was dedicated to Ukraine. And I was always eager to contribute to the development of my country. And I was 100% sure that I will come back to Ukraine and rebuild it. So of course, it even boosted this, this atrocity, this abomination. It even boosted my patriotic spirit, and it created such such a face in the flourish meant and in my own strength, that I will be able to do that. And I should confess that I had never, ever seen the word up so close before the 24th of February. And I was in Ukraine during those terrible, terrible actions of Russia, was in my home see, I communicated with my friends from key of from other parts of Ukraine. And I was shocked. I was like, in in desperation. And because I had always lived under the blue yellow colored flag, which symbolizes the main values of Ukraine, freedom and peace. And I had never, ever thought that the work can even be the case in the 21st century century of democracy, negotiations and peacekeeping. But, you know, the Russia doesn't have any restrictions and boundaries, and the meddling of Russia into our country's affairs proved my assumptions to be absolutely wrong, and changed everything upside down. And I cannot even express how, how much outrage and heartbreak I feel. And, of course, like, if talking about the special operation in Ukraine, we cannot predict what will be in the future because the person who is committing all these crimes and who is committing this kind of war is just unpredictable. This is the man who is like in his own, who's flying is his own world. But I know 100% Am 100 100% sure that our majestic Ukrainian civil society and our majestic Ukrainian confrontation will take a stand, and we will win. And we will cope with this how and with this with this sufferings, and I have to outline the fact that I was 99% sure that Russia won't commit this kind of atrocity. And I was like, living my normal life, but then it happened. And it but in fact, it wasn't the spontaneous, we're lucky. We're putting the and he's immortal and truthless dictatorship. He actually planned this invasion. And he's acting high and mighty, pretending that everything is going smoothly, but it is not. And he calls these this special operation, which is definitely not so. And I know for sure that missiles, tanks and all of these bombs shellings around Ukraine, they won't break our spirit. And I should confess that our way that we can counter this war, Ukrainians can counter this war with our defense and our humanity and our desire for peace and our faith in freedom and democracy. To which we will always defend belief in freedom and democracy alone will not stop the tank. But I know for sure that it can cannot destroy the face. No army, no repression is stronger than the belief in freedom and democracy in people's hearts. And I do believe that our sufferings are temporary. And soon we will be full of energy to rebuild our magnificent Ukraine. I don't want each and every Ukrainian to come back home and invest in the flourish ment of our country. For Ukraine. We are stronger when we are together. And I know that all of the actions that Vladimir Putin in his regime is doing now, they will be severely punished. And we will see that in the future. Because what he is doing is the barbarism and the great atrocity. And I'm thankful to everyone who supports Ukraine right now. And I'm thankful to everyone who tries to raise money, who organized the church, build nations who attends those demonstrations, and actions, and takes actions. And we all want to stop the bloodshed, we all are eager for a ceasefire, and the whole world wants peace. And I'm 100% sure that the peace will come and Ukraine will win and become the symbol of freedom and peace. Yes. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 11:27 Can I agree with you so much? And I want to know, though you're exceptional and very different from other people? Did you raise yourself? Or were you somewhat actively influenced by something that made you the person who you are today? Olha Burdeina 11:48 Thank you for your question. Yes, I try to I try to promote myself in all the possible ways because I understand that all that I have, and all that I will have a slide in my hands, and I should take action, I should promote myself and I should do something towards my goals, do something towards my aims, and I should work on myself. And to be honest, my social activist work, my volunteering work, and my great push towards the severe started from the early childhood. And I believe so because my parents has always has raised me as the person with a strong life convictions. And they have given me this sense of the values that I should have forever in myself. And I'm grateful to them, because they, they, they introduced me to the world of different extracurricular activities, I took all active part in different activities. And this, of course, helped me to create the new version of myself, the today's version of myself, but I want to outline an interesting equators that happened to me in summer 2018, I guess. And this was the starting point, the realization of my patriotism and of my active position in life. This was the meeting with pure Kumar, and this was the Indian volunteer ICIC volunteer, we hosted this person in our house. And that was the starting point. Why? Because why is our interaction and communication I could realize that it is of the highest important to, to be who you are today to promote your values, to promote your ideas and to love your country. And he told me, the very important and very nice words that I don't be, I shouldn't be afraid of being afraid, I should be afraid not facing my fears and failures. I shouldn't be afraid to defy convictions that kills art. And so inside of me, and he approach so far, my futuristic maturity, he showed me what the patriotism is, he showed me the how knowledgeable and reasonable the person should be, and how I should stand for my own ideas and for my own priorities and values. This was really valuable, and I'm thankful to him, and I'm thankful to the words that he said to me one day because starting from the point, I applied for the free foundation of original initiations organization that I started to more work in it the other organization and volunteering, and then it all came. So this was such a starting point, and this person boosted my realization, myself realization and boosted my potential. So such a story. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 15:26 It's a wonderful story. And I cannot not mention that some people think you'll look 12 or 13, but you're not you're a lot more mature than that. Do you feel like a woman or like a child? Olha Burdeina 15:43 Thank you for such an interesting question. To be perfectly honest, about my age, and about looking not like the 17 year old girl. I'm totally fine with that. And I find it even as the even as the as the beneficial part. Because when I started my act, social activist like career and volunteer, work I, I was like 13, or 14 years old. And some older, young people, they told me that it is not appropriate to to be here in at such an age it is you may experience the burn out, you may feel that you're doing too much. And this may eventually lead you to that burn out. And they looked at me like, not seriously, they took me not seriously. But I had my ideas. And I had something inside of me. And I wanted to realize that my ideas fully by becoming the member of the organization's by volunteering. And yeah, I was the youngest member of all of those institutions. But I don't regret it. And this proved it that it doesn't mean how old matter how old you are. A the most important thing is what you have inside, what you are engaged with, what you are involved into, and how are you planning to contribute? This is the most important thing. These are the most important things basically, not how old are you, of course. And now we'd like to go to the second question about my own feelings. I don't feel like a child, I don't feel like my values can be compared to the childish ones. Maybe I look like a child. But I'm not a child. I'm a woman, I'm the person who is ready to evolve, who is ready to pursue my dreams, who is ready to promote my values and promote my ideas. So I don't feel like a child anymore. And I don't think that I'm a child anymore, as well. And I think that we all have to grow up even faster today because of these horrible events. And the younger generation should take a stand and to develop their themselves even in the faster, faster pace. So I feel like a woman, I feel like the powerful woman who can change the world and who can bring in the actions and who can bring in new ideas and possible solutions to the problems and issues that are in my country and that are globally. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 18:52 Again, I love your eloquence. You're like a poet recce who is just speaking in prose instead of poetry. And then since you feel like a woman, what does it mean for you to be a woman? What is femininity? Is it an energy? Is it an attitude? Is it a behavior, a look? And at the same time? What is to you masculinity? How do you experience it? And how would you describe that as well? Olha Burdeina 19:26 Thank you for the question. So to me femininity means confidence, confidence in being a woman. It is when you have the fire inside of you that is always lit and it means when you are ready to take action. In being a woman who balances both strong and soft traits. I see the power. So I think that a woman is the person who can be her morning and well balanced, it means owning all of the assaults and leading with confidence, it means not hiding the attributes, but wearing the gender and body with pride. So when you're wearing your body, when you are accepting yourself fully, then you are a woman who can be removed from the league letter W. And it is, of course, being verbal, being communicative, being more you or being having an appreciation for beautiful and aesthetically pleasing thinks it is when you can be both. So you shouldn't be like, one accepted, you know, modal, like a woman, you can be different you can be you can have the variety of traits you can have with a variety of emotions, you can act like you wish, you can act freely, you don't have the own certain, you know, set of guidelines that you need to follow to be the perfect woman. It's when you accept yourself, it's when you were who you are with all of the values that you will ask forever. And again, masculinity, for me, is also something similar, I don't think that masculinity is something, you know, I'm a man, I'm the protector, I'm the theatre of my family, I have to do this and that I have to work physically, and so on so far. So men are also allowed to be emotional, men are also allowed to feel something, they're also allowed to be themselves. And I think that this acceptance, this should be present both in the femininity and masculinity. And, but But still, I do believe that masculinity is also connected to the ability to protect, and the ability to, to act. Mighty, II, I mean, to be like strong and to keep strong. But I don't deny the fact that man can be emotional man can cry sometimes or even not sometimes. It's our human rights. And I think that there is there should be the equality between us, between the man and girls. And I believe that in the future, it will be established, because we are human beings, and we are endowed with the same abilities. And I believe that we should accept ourselves, this the way we are. And we should promote ourselves as we are. Try to endeavor, what we are eager to pursue and what we are eager to see in ourselves. So this is my own perspective on this case. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 23:03 I love your perspective. And you mentioned often your values, your principles, that they're not childish, that you have clarity on them. How did you figure out your values and principles? How did you choose them? And if there is a person who might feel lost, because they don't know their values? What's your advice for them so that they can figure them out Olha Burdeina 23:30 again for the question? So basically, I don't think that values they're just found on or they're just lost, I think that the values should be established through the experiences through your work through your lifetime through your life journey. So when you lie, when, if you're in this world, everyone likes its own his or her own star. And then you move your compass, you move your life paths towards something that you want to pursue an undead life path, you can feel lots of you can feel desperation, you can feel success, you can find some routes that are more challenging, and some that are easy. And of course, this plays the role. And of course, this has something to do with the values. So all of the challenges, all of the successes, all of the experience, they do shape your values, and they do. They do influence the values. Sometimes certain experiences can reform those values. It is the case with Ukraine and case in war. I know my my friend, my friend is statistically studying here in Belize as well. She told me that before the war she wasn't that much patriotic and she thought like she wants you to stay abroad, but after this terrible and horrible events, she felt such a great, you know, connection with her country that her values changed, she understood that it is far better to stay in your country because it's your people. And she is actually from Bucha. And she, she just realized a lot about this, and she got the new perspective of herself, and about her values. So my values personally are shaped by the experiences. And I do recommend to everyone to shave the values via those experiences, you cannot sit and just think one day that Okay, so what are my values, okay, so, maybe this and that, and that, you should go through some challenges. And if you don't have those challenges, you cannot do that, after some challenges, after some experiences, you can see, you can think over your values, you can think about this certain certain activities, that an interest that you are involved in about certain people in your people in your life, and then you can just write down your values, and you can just find those values. And I think that it is rather important also to talk to some people who have their values already found, and to, to actually to find out about their own values, and maybe in your values are similar. And in my case, I also was the part of I am the part of the foundation of original initiations, this is a social organization, public organization. And this public organization has main values, its main values. And while we're accepting, so the HR manager accepts the person into the organization, he or she shares this values with the person. And if the person feels that this values are kinda similar to his or, or her maybe in his life, so maybe something appeals to him. So then it is, it is important to know that and to stick to those principles, and live convictions and those values. So I believe that values are shaped through our experiences. And we should go through that experiences and challenging challenges. And we should try ourselves in different variations. And in those situations, we'll be able to find out what we value most, and what we will maintain in ourselves in the future, and maybe what is most important to us, and what is essential to us. So values and experiences these are interconnected towards for me, Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 28:03 you always have such a wise perspective and to bring it to more globally to all of Ukraine. Some sociologists and psychologists argue that this experience, the war will traumatize the whole generation in a negative way will create PTSD, and that Ukrainians will never be the same. At the same time you were speaking about how experiences even challenging ones can allow us to grow and understand our values and get clarity on the principles to live by. What is your thought, will this war traumatize Ukrainians? Is? Or will it be an opportunity for them to live more with an understanding of their values? And how can that process be promoted more so that instead of trauma, it becomes growth? Olha Burdeina 29:00 That's amazing question. Thank you, that you're well thought and well considered. So of course, even challenges, they do contribute to our growth as the people as the humanity. And if talking globally, this we're also will have the positive of course, I will look on our nation in the future. Surely, it is a difficult time and surely people will be traumatized because of like those people who were raped those people who were kidnapped those people who were bombed shelter of course, they will feel traumatized. It is impossible to forgive such things. It is impossible to continue living with those loads of things, but I think only the people with a strong inner potential and with the strong cells and Ukrainians are such people. Yeah, as we can, we can promote ourselves, ourselves and the word cannot be the boundary and the, you know, this special wall that is just us is there is between the world and between us. So, I think that work is the challenging experience, but it is also the life lesson to all of us. Because sometimes we forget about the small details of our life, we forget about the sexual minorities, that that are important in our lives. We forget about the values, and we forget about our patriotic feeling. And I surely believe that after such an atrocity and elimination, we will be able to, to conduct a better life, we will be able to rebuild our country, and we will be able and people will be able to rebuild their own mental health as well. Of course, we all feel desperate heartbreak outrage, and sometimes when I'm sitting here in DC, and some fireworks are in the town, I feel like it is the Messiah, or I feel that it is like the the play in around this town. And it is, it is horrible. It is drastic, it is terrible. But I feel that Ukrainians will cope with that. And I feel that in order not to be that much traumatized, we shouldn't focus on our problems and issues right now. People who can they should invest in themselves, people who can they should think about the rebuild of Ukraine, they should not think about the all the problems, you know, this kind of thinking, when you think that something is horrible. And when you are thinking that, Oh my god, I cannot do this, or, Oh, I'm I'm stuck with that, then this will be like two or three, four times harder for you to cope with. So we have to have a positive outlook on life, we have to be positive about that. We're winning this war. We are, yes, we lost lots of lives. And this is horrible, this drastic, but these people are heroes, but we should continue our lives, we should not be like too much traumatized because Ukraine won't. Like won't be able to live without us. And it would be impossible to conduct the great life with such kind of people. So I'm 100% sure that it is vital to to stay with the integrate mind, and to be conscious enough about what you're doing. And it is vital, just to focus on the rebuild of our renewal of our Ukraine, not to focus on all the bad things. But to think positively. And to think strategically, it is important today, to think strategically, to have the certain perspective of what we are going to do next. So to have some something in your mind, that you will contribute to Ukraine, because, of course, this is like Ukraine needs their rebuild the renewal in the full scale, and everyone should contribute. So I think that Ukrainians should, should invest into into their own mindset and their worldview, and they should think positively, and we should not, we will never forgive these to Russia. And of course, we will, we will fight to the end. And we will try to live positively and we will rebuild our Ukraine, and we will not be traumatized. We will be strong, we will be powerful. And we will build the new, flourishing and perspective country that everyone will be jealous of. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 34:27 That's a wonderful image. I love how you're ending on such a positive note. All ha It was a privilege. A pleasure. And I wish you not only hope but practical success and victory for Ukraine. Thank you so much. Olha Burdeina 34:47 Thank you again for inviting me. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts. Thank you again, for conducting such an amazing podcast and thank you for sharing With the truthful information, and banning the manipulation and propaganda and showing the people the truthful information, in fact about what is happening in Ukraine, about the people, Ukrainian people, and that is, that is what I'm exceptionally grateful for. This is extremely important today. And this is of the highest importance to spread the facts and spread the ideas of Ukrainians. And I'm, I'm just really, really grateful to you, thank you for what you're doing. And thank you for inviting me. It was a pleasure to talk to you. It was a pleasure to share my ideas. Thank you. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 35:44 Always. And thank you, too.