Tetiana Bilooka from Ukraine is a mathematics and computer science teacher, and an actress, since arriving in the Czech Republic. Photo: LWF Prague
Tetiana Bilooka celebrates resilience in a new country after everything changed in Ukraine
(LWI) – Tetiana Bilooka is a mathematics and computer science teacher. She is also, an actress.
When she arrived in Prague from Ukraine, she did not imagine that theater would become part of her life, let alone a source of healing, confidence, and belonging. Yet today, standing on stage, she radiates strength, calm presence, and optimism. Her journey reflects not only resilience, but the quiet courage it takes to begin again.
Bilooka brings with her more than 20 years of teaching experience and three university degrees. Before the war, she lived and worked in northeastern Ukraine, in Chernigov, a city close to the Russian border. She had built a stable life, a respected career, and a clear sense of identity.
When the war began in 2022, everything changed. But she survived weeks of bombings, sheltering in basements without electricity or water. Eventually, she made the painful decision to leave her home and seek safety in the Czech Republic, where her son had been living for several years. “I cried constantly,” she recalls. “I felt that my life had been left behind.”
Starting over at 50 was not easy. While she found safety in Prague, the psychological impact of war stayed with her. She did not speak Czech. The stress affected her deeply, she struggled with sleep, lost her appetite, and developed a severe stutter. Everyday interactions became exhausting and intimidating.
Yet even in this fragile period, small acts of kindness helped her move forward. She remains deeply grateful to the people who supported her during those first difficult months.
Unexpected turning point
An unexpected turning point came when a friend invited her to join an amateur theater group.
At first, the idea felt impossible. Bilooka had never imagined herself as an actress, theater belonged to another world, not hers. But she accepted the invitation.
Created in 2024, the group was part of the Fostering Intercultural Understanding and Sensitivity (FICUS) project implemented by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Prague office with support from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Württemberg, Germany. FICUS seeks to foster intercultural dialogue and social protection in the country by bringing together people from different countries and backgrounds, alongside Czech participants, and offering a space where stories, emotions, and experiences are shared freely.
Established in 2021, LWF Prague serves as a bridge between global expertise and local engagement. On the global level, it provides technical and advisory support to LWF’s international humanitarian and development arm, World Service. In the Czech Republic it collaborates with local partners including the two LWF member churches Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren and Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession to promote social cohesion, inclusivity, faith-sensitive and value-based dialogue. In Ukraine, the LWF country program has been supporting internally displaced people and other war affected communities since 2022. This work includes repair of shelters, providing material for winter, education assistance, mental health and psychosocial support, in collaboration with the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine and other local partners.
Theater became more than a hobby for Tetiana Bilooka, withiun the group she found encouragement and genuine human connection. Photo: LWF Prague
Theater helped me accept that it is okay not to be perfect. It helped me let go of fear.
Tetiana Bilooka from Ukraine, mathematics and computer science teacher, and an actress
Structure and freedom
FICUS was a bridge for Bilooka. Theater became more than a hobby. Within the group, she found patience, encouragement, and genuine human connection. Fellow local peers helped her rehearse, supported her language learning, and gave her the confidence to try again and again.
As a teacher, Bilooka had always held herself to very high standards. “Theater helped me accept that it is okay not to be perfect,” she says. “It helped me let go of fear.”
Slowly, her stutter began to disappear. Speaking Czech became easier. The words she once struggled to pronounce on stage began to flow naturally in everyday life, in conversation, in public spaces, in her new community.
The theater group has achieved remarkable success. Their performances have been recognized at a national Czech national amateur theater festival, and several actors received awards. Bilooka carefully keeps a magazine article that featured their work.
I want my grandchildren to know that even at 50 years, it is possible to start again.
One day, she hopes to show it to her future grandchildren. “I want them to know,” she says, “that even at 50, it is possible to start again.”
Today, theater remains an important part of her life. Even after the project, the group continued independently, a testament to the strength of the community they built together.
Through both mathematics and theater, Bilooka has found balance once again. Teaching gives her structure. Theater gives her freedom.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
And the title of the play that first brought her to the stage, ‘Today is the first day of the rest of my life’, has become more than a performance. It has become her truth.
Her story is not only about survival. It is about rediscovering voice, confidence, and belonging; it is also about the quiet power of human connection to transform fear into strength.
Established in 2021, LWF Prague and its partners cooperate to promote social cohesion, inclusivity, faith-sensitive and value-based dialogue in the Czech Republic. Its projects include intercultural exchange events for adults, camps and culture awareness activities for children, awareness raising on gender-based violence and festivals on refugee topics and diverse cultures. LWF Ukraine has been operational since 2022 across Eastern Ukraine and provides support in the areas of shelter repairs, education, and mental health and psychosocial support.
