BELFAST, Maine — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to disrupt the daily lives of the Ukrainian people, including their schools. This is why 20 laptops from Regional School Unit 71 will soon be headed to students in Bucha, Ukraine.
Martha Conway-Cole is a middle school teacher in Belfast. Thanks to a class project done during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Conway-Cole was connected to Anna Maimeskul, a high school teacher in Ukraine. Their classrooms met virtually, and the two teachers became friends.
“I was in England this summer, and we met each other,” Conway-Cole told NEWS CENTER Maine. “We talked face to face about what would be something Belfast students could do to help Anna’s students in Bucha. Anna contacted her superiors, and they needed laptops.”
In a Zoom interview, Maimeskul explained she is teaching her students remotely from England.
“Students are commuting to school on their telephones because student laptops were bombed and looted,” Maimeskul said. “The laptops give us the opportunity to see our students and work with them. It’s really important.”
Conway-Cole said she is working with a local business to ship the laptops to Ukraine.