I never thought something like this could happen. A war in my own country? A quick goodbye to my city, parents, and friends? An exhausting escape to another state far away from home? Until the 24th of February 2022, these things had never crossed my mind. But after the Russian invasion to Ukraine, including my hometown Odessa, everything has changed.
Odesa wasn’t under occupation at all, so this sentence sounds a little bit strange. There wasn’t any marine landing or anything else. And the invasion started in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea.
We did not think long. Two days after the outbreak of the war, me and my boyfriend Stan escaped Odessa. On the 1st of March, after a stressful journey through Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria, we finally reached the Czech Republic. Once we settled down a bit, I spent long hours googling and I was lucky to find a job as a social media manager in C3 Prague.Soon afterwards, I found out that both me and my Czech and Slovak colleagues have many questions we would like to ask each other: What are the cultural differences between Ukrainians and Czechs? How can we talk about the war? I was also struggling to find a doctor who would speak a language I understand.
Once I found the information I needed, I wanted to share some useful tips with other refugees – and, at the same time, educate Czechs about my country. To do this, me and my new colleagues have decided to start a platform that could offer answers to some of our most important questions, and help Czechs and Ukrainians understand each other better. That’s how the Rozumiju magazine came to life in October 2022.
What is Rozumiju?
A platform that:
- helps Ukrainian refugees learn more about the Czech culture and vice versa. For example, through Anya’s tips and her story. It also helps with the newcomers’ integration.
- inspires and tells personal stories that everyone can relate to. We want to show that, above all, each refugee is a person who can enrich us. Both culturally and personally.
- promotes mutual – and so important – understanding. In three languages (UA, CZ and ENG) at once.
- consists of 4 categories: stories, health, work, and culture.
How is Rozumiju structured and promoted?
On the Rozumiju blog, we collect stories of Ukrainian refugees and explain how they made it to the Czech Republic. We strive to share their experiences and the difficulties they encountered in the new country. In addition, we create related articles that are linked to the protagonists of our stories. For example, if the main article is about a father who escaped the war with his autistic son, we offer an additional article with advice from a therapist and a psychologist on how to communicate with people who have autism. We also regularly analyze topics the target group looks for via search engines, and create corresponding content, often in cooperation with experts such as therapists or political geographers.
To be able to reach the relevant audience and offer helpful information to as many refugees as possible, we promote the content via paid campaigns on Instagram and constantly analyze the posts/articles that are being saved the most. The number of followers and the time readers spend with Rozumiju has been rising, which shows that we’ve been heading in the right direction. We aim to create an active audience that will help us bring new topics and incentives, be there for the current needs of the target audience, and make use of what we – as a content marketing agency – do best: helpful and relevant content.
Do you have a suggestion for relevant topics we could cover at Rozumiju? Or know some Ukrainian refugee whose story deserves to be told? Share them with us.
