Text: Svitlana Prokopchuk
She is 17 years old, she comes from Kyiv, and behind her lies an experience that many adults would not have been able to endure. Sofia Ogagifo lives in the canton of Zurich and this year is completing an additional school year in Switzerland. From August, she will begin her apprenticeship at Zurich Zoo. But the road to this moment was long — through mockery, tears, rejections, and a personal project that became her anchor.
Racism and discrimination: “Here I felt it much more than in Ukraine”
Sofia’s father is from Nigeria, and she has faced prejudice because of her skin colour since early childhood. “I encountered racism quite often, even as a child in Ukraine. There were many jokes, a lot of discrimination. I had somehow got used to it — as sad as that sounds,” she says.
Switzerland, however, surprised her in the opposite direction. Despite its established image as a tolerant country, things were harder for her here. Classmates laughed at her pronunciation, made remarks about her skin colour, and some were brazen enough to shout pro-Russian slogans at her back. “Many people say that Switzerland is a country without any racism. That is not true. Here I encountered it far more than in Ukraine,” Sofia says plainly.
One detail was particularly painful — a T-shirt with the words “I am Ukrainian.” It became the most frequent target of mockery. “I cried almost every day because of it. Even though I haven’t experienced the war the way those still living there have — I still stand with my country, and this topic is very painful for me.” Yet Sofia kept wearing the T-shirt: “I have the right to wear what I want.”
The aircraft “Mriya”: “I will build her anew”
Every year, students in Swiss schools carry out their own project at the end of their studies. For Sofia, this became an opportunity to say what she did not want to stay silent about — to remind the world that war is still going on in Ukraine.
At first, she thought about creating a model of Saint Sophia’s Cathedral. But she realised she would not have enough time for such a project. Then another idea came to her — the aircraft “Mriya.” A symbol known around the world. A symbol that had been bombed. For four months she worked on the model at home, because it was fragile and large. Her teacher gave permission. At the end of the year, an exhibition was held for parents and guests. And it was there that Sofia once again encountered what no longer surprised her — but still hurt. Classmates deliberately moved the wings of the model, made jokes, and tried to upset her. “I was terrified that Mriya would literally not survive until the exhibition,” Sofia recalls.
But the project had to go further. Sofia decided to raise funds for the “Voice of Children” foundation, which, in her view, systematically helps teenagers — including those who have ended up abroad. She wanted to display a QR code at the exhibition. Her class teacher refused, calling it “politics.” So Sofia went to the headteacher. She explained why it mattered. He agreed after consulting with the town authorities. The QR code appeared at the exhibition, people came up, scanned it, and donated. “I realised I had to turn this into something big, because this project is truly worth it,” the girl adds.
The search for a Lehre: “I was ready to give up”
A Lehre — a vocational apprenticeship — is a compulsory step in the Swiss education system after school. Finding one is not easy even for local students. For Sofia, it became a real ordeal. “I thought it would be fairly straightforward. But I ran into a lot of difficulties because of the language. It was hard for me to express my thoughts, to present myself well. Because of that, I received a huge number of rejections,” Sofia recalls. She watched others being invited to interviews and felt like an outsider. At some point she even thought about giving up entirely and going back to Ukraine. But she did not give up. She started sending more letters, applying for professions she had never even considered — pastry chef, sales assistant. Eventually she enrolled in an additional year of school, where she was helped to prepare for interviews and put her documents together. And she found a position as a sales assistant at Zurich Zoo.
For those just starting out on this path, Sofia has concrete advice. First, never give up: “It may be that you are already standing right next to your Lehre — you just haven’t noticed it yet.” Second, apply even for roles you cannot imagine yourself in — her own experience bears this out. Third, before making a choice, ask yourself honestly: am I ready to do this for three years? “Don’t look for your flaws — just decide to work on them. Perfect people don’t exist,” Sofia emphasises.
At interviews, she adds, it is not worth hiding your weaknesses — that immediately raises suspicion. But you should speak about them alongside what you are doing to improve. “I went through that myself. I said I had no weaknesses. The company rejected me. That’s when I understood,” she says.
This August, Sofia begins a new chapter. The zoo, new people, new experiences. And beyond that — plans to go to Canada, a summer school, English lessons, and working on herself. She is determined to work on emotional self-control, which is essential in her role as a sales assistant.
Stories like Sofia’s among teenage migrants number in the thousands. Most of them do not give interviews and do not build a “Mriya” out of cardboard. They simply try, every day, to overcome difficulties and move forward. And that too is worth writing about.
