Mobile Day Care Travels from Finland to Ukraine – “Traumatic Surroundings Require a Safe Environment”

(MENAFN- TBWA) There are currently a total of 3 798 educational institutions that have suffered from shelling, of which nearly 400 have been completely destroyed*. As the war goes on, the number will continue to climb.
Globally operating Finnish startup Fun Academy has provided aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the war and now their most recent project is ready to depart for Ukraine. Fun Academy on Wheels, a mobile day care, therapy and education center can move near bomb shelters so that it can be evacuated quickly if an air raid alarm is sounded.
The project was realized with the help of 30 Finnish companies with the Ministry of the Interior of Finland, Ukrainian Board of Education, Ukrainian Institute of Education Development (UIED) and the Association of Innovative and Digital Education (AIDE) assisting. The bus starts its important mission to Kherson on the 16th of September to support teachers and provide psychosocial assistance to Ukrainian children and families.
Joy and psychosocial support
The project fulfills the need from Ukraine to provide psychosocial support and is a pilot project to help supplement Ukrainian early childhood education ravaged by war. Because new day care centers can only be built to areas cleared of mines and near bomb shelters, the mobile education center secures children’s right to play and learn.
“In traumatic surroundings children need a safe environment where they can play, relax and learn in a natural way. The possibility to act as a continuing education center extends the project’s influence as Ukrainian professionals can provide remote training to a larger area. However, the main objective of the bus is to ‘transport joy’, as one small child noted when they saw our bus”, Fun Academy’s Fun Learning Ambassador Sanna Lukander says.
Olga Dedov, who works as a psychologist of the Municipal Institution "Center for Professional Development of Pedagogical Workers" in the Chernivtsi Region of Ukraine, says that the need for psychosocial support is especially important among children affected by war.
“Our children, like all of us, experience incredible stress, loss, fear and uncertainty about the future. War leaves deep traumas on children's psyche”, Dedov says. She reminds that providing this psychosocial support is the responsibility of adults.
“The children who receive the necessary psychosocial support today will be the ones who will rebuild our country tomorrow, who will contribute to its development and prosperity”, Dedov concludes.
Brought to life by 30 partners
The mobile day care and education center was realized with the help of 30 partner organizations brought together by the desire to contribute for education, children and those in need. Koiviston Auto, the largest bus operator in Finland, donated a bus to the project which was thoroughly renovated.
“The amount of modifications needed to transform the bus was extensive, but our chassis repair center in Helsinki with the help of our partner network did a tremendous job”, Koiviston Auto’s technical director Michael Andersson lauds. According to Andersson, the company has previous experience in delivering buses to Ukraine:
“In the turn of the year 2022–23 we sent 15 buses to Ukraine to help with transporting school children. We investigated the possibility of cooperating with the Ministry of Interior, but we ended up transporting the buses ourselves. It was a big deal for us, so we were happy to step up again to help Ukraine.”
The amount and size of donations ranges from small to large, but every one of them are equally important. Finnish day care children have donated pictures they drew to Ukrainian children and devoted hobby horse riders Noora and Kiira wanted to donate some of their prized horses. They both hope that the hobby horses will bring Ukrainian children as much joy as they have brought to themselves.

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