Dmitry, who arrived in Latvia last August as a refugee from Kharkiv, said: “I am learning Latvian. I understand, but I don't speak it yet.”
Dmitry's parents are in Ukraine. “Dad is a soldier and is on the front right now. Mom and Grandmother are at home in Kharkiv right now. No plans to go away. Don't want to,” he said.
Karina, on the other hand, has arrived in Latvia from the district of Zhytomyr. “Right now, fortunately, it's all right. But there were hostilities in the summer. My parents are in Ukraine. My dad is a soldier, too, he's on the front. Mom stayed at home. She works. Grandma is home, too.”
The two Ukrainian young people have applied to the Shadow Days hosted by Junior Achievement Latvia.
Junior Achievement Latvia spokeswoman Baiba Rāta-Saliņa said: "This year, in the framework of the UNICEF project “Uplift Youth”, we have invited Ukrainian pupils who are in Latvia to apply for vacancies, and employers to offer vacancies. We are very pleased that around 100 employers have applied, and in total more than 500 vacancies are currently being offered to young people from Ukraine."
The professions and fields young people can observe are diverse, from finance and information technology to medicine and education. One of the companies that offer vacancies to Ukrainian young people is Maxima Latvija.
Maxima Latvija spokeswoman Laura Bagrich said: "We are offering more than 70 vacancies this year. 50 are available to young people from Ukraine. Colleagues are very receptive. [..] Of course, you can choose the working language. It can be either English or Russian."
Meanwhile, Dmitry said he was interested in a number of areas - public administration and design. He has already submitted an application for Shadow Day.
“I chose to shadow the Latvian Minister for Culture. I want to see his work from the inside, how his day of work passes, to talk to him. It seems to be the ministry where my two interests meet. If I do not get in, I will resubmit my application, but this time to the Prime Minister," said Dmitry.
Karyn said, "I think Shadow Day is a very good opportunity for young people to find out about a profession of interest to themselves, whether they want to learn it, or not, to see how other people work in this profession. I'm interested in accounting. I want to see how accountants work."
The Shadow Day will take place throughout Latvia on April 5. Both local and Ukrainian young people still have the opportunity to submit their applications at enudiena.lv.
