Text: Svitlana Prokopchuk
Daria Sokolska’s journey in Switzerland began in March 2022. Having arrived from Chernihiv, she was already standing outside the Red Cross in Bern on April 1. Inside there was chaos, long queues, and confused people with no knowledge of the language. Daria spoke German well, so she decided to help with translation. When she received a compliment about her German, she simply asked, “May I work with you?” She sent her CV—and stayed.
At first, she worked with refugees, later moving to the organizational department. It was precisely after stepping away from daily contact with newcomers that she felt she could give more—not as part of the system, but as a person with lived experience. “I was already standing on my own feet. I had solid ground beneath me. And I wanted to share that feeling,” Daria says.
“Ukrainian Women in Bern”: A Community That Grew to Three Hundred Members
The idea of the community “Ukrainian Women in Bern” was not born as a strategic project, but out of an inner need. At first, it was simply about finding like-minded women. Then it became about supporting others—offering advice, helping draft CVs, assisting with job searches for those who reached out.
The small circle quickly expanded: friends added friends, sisters added sisters, mothers added daughters. Instead of the expected fifty members, the group soon reached three hundred. Today, the WhatsApp community has a clear structure, with subgroups—for those who want discussion and for those who need practical information only.
Daria is learning to moderate, to respond to different personalities, and sometimes… to withstand hate. The group has become more than just a chat—it is a space of trust, a place where one can ask questions without fear of appearing “unprepared,” where sharing experience helps women take their first steps in a new country.
In Daria’s words, the idea of “giving” comes up often. But between the lines, one can sense a deeper need—to belong, to build horizontal connections, to create a space where loneliness does not feel like the norm. The online community became the environment where that need found its shape.
From Online Support to Structured Initiatives
As the community strengthened, the need arose to speak about integration more deeply and systematically. This led to cooperation between “Ukrainian Women in Bern” and the Association “USB”—an example of how a grassroots initiative and institutional support can reinforce one another.
The first joint webinar, “Starting Over: Work, Confidence, and a New Life,” brought together Ukrainian women from different parts of the Canton of Bern. The conversation about work and adaptation became a practical integration tool—with a focus on confidence, strategy, and inner stability.
The online format was chosen intentionally: among the participants are women not only from the city of Bern, but also from remote towns, where traveling involves additional expenses.
During the webinar, participants discussed internal barriers that hinder progress after relocation, building a personal life and career strategy within Swiss realities, and the specifics of the local labor market and employers’ expectations. The language issue was addressed separately—not as a matter of ability, but of emotional security. The role of communication, hobbies, and civic engagement in the integration process was also explored.
The key idea of the event: a personal strategy is not a rigid plan. It is a flexible roadmap that can be adjusted without losing oneself.
Integration Is More Than Language
The success of the webinar became a springboard for the next step: in March, the team is preparing three offline workshops—on employment, cultural codes, and workplace behavior. Daria is also working on a workshop about starting a business in Switzerland.
Because integration is not only about language skills. It is about knowing how to greet and say goodbye, how to maintain eye contact, how to understand distance, sense context, and read unwritten rules.
All events take place with a symbolic participation fee. This makes participation more intentional and responsible. The contributions go toward organizational costs, speakers’ fees, venue rental, and coffee. The main goal is to grow without losing accessibility.
“The group is like a living organism. It grows. And I observe where it wants to move. Based on that, we will shape our future events,” says Daria Sokolska.
Perhaps that is the essence of the story of “Ukrainian Women in Bern”: an online community became more than a communication channel—it became an anchor point. First for Daria. And later for hundreds of women learning to start over together.
