– It is important that people know what is happening. Ukrainian Viktoriia Sobolieva (27) came to Norway in May last year. She is learning Norwegian, but admits that she doesn’t know the language very well yet.But today, one year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she gets the chance to read interviews and reports with Ukrainians who have moved to Norway. The local newspapers Tynsetingen and Alvdal in the middle of Väla fill the spaces with content written in both Norwegian and Ukrainian. BILINGUAL: The public is served articles in both Norwegian and Ukrainian today. Screenshot/Tynsetingen The nine-year-old spent the Easter holidays last year collecting money for war-affected children. Marking the anniversary In the past year, over 80 Ukrainian refugees have moved to Tynset in the North-East valley. It was therefore quite natural for the local newspaper to focus on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. – We started thinking about what we can do and then we quickly agreed that we will run all cases with Ukrainians and in Ukrainian, editor Liv Maren Mæhre Vold told Tynsetingen. The newspapers remove the pay wall on the articles so that everyone can read the cases, the editor states. EDITOR: Liv Maren Mæhre Vold says it has been a lot of work to translate all the content into Ukrainian, but she would still like to be able to offer readers her articles in several languages all year round if she had the resources to do so. Photo: TORSTEIN SAGBAKKEN / ALVDAL MIDT I VÆLA Viktoriia Sobolieva is very pleased that she can read articles about her homeland in her own language, and believes it is important that people know what is happening there. Her entire family is in Ukraine, and she says that contact with them is limited. – There is a bad telephone and internet connection, so I don’t get to talk to them very often. She says that she will read all the articles that are published in Ukrainian today. SATISFIED: Viktoriia thinks it is good that more people get the chance to read material about Ukraine in their own language. Photo: Geir Olav Slåen / news The training center has sold Tilsette to the newspaper has been responsible for the editorial content, while the Tynset training center has helped to get in touch with Ukrainians in the area and to sell the articles. – It has been fun to be involved, says Larysa Røe. She herself is Ukrainian and works by day as an environmental worker at the municipality’s training centre, but has recently taken on the role of interpreter for the newspaper. She thinks the task has been rewarding. – Today we gather all the Ukrainians in the whole of Nord-Østerdal so that both they and Norwegians can meet, says Røe. The mayor is proud Tynset mayor Merethe Myhre Moen (Sp) has welcomed the 86 Ukrainians who have come to the municipality in the past year. She thinks the initiative is a nice gesture. – They are very grateful that they are here. And we are of course happy that we can contribute when they are in such a difficult situation, says Myhre Moen. SATISFIED: Mayor Merethe Myhre Moen thinks the initiative is a nice gesture. Photo: Trond Ivan Hagen Yesterday the mayor visited Furumoen, where many of the Ukrainians in the municipality live. The atmosphere was good there, he says. – We must do what we can to help. A Ukrainian-Norwegian woman walked 6 kilometers from the Polish border into Ukraine to pick up her niece. Has received positive feedback The editor in Tynsetingen believes the invention is unexpected for the Ukrainians in the area, but says they have spread the word that the refugees can now read the local newspaper in their mother tongue. – We think we are a local newspaper for everyone who lives here. It is part of our mandate that the newspaper should be accessible to everyone. We would have liked to have a Ukrainian salesperson available all the time, if we had had the resources to do so, says Mæhre Vold. She has the impression that the Ukrainians at Tynset appreciated the initiative. – It is important to show the Ukrainians here that we care about them and that we appreciate them being here.
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