Ukrainian youth in Latvia are navigating two education systems, two languages, and competing visions of the future. Researcher Hanna Markova argues that educational choices under forced migration are not only academic decisions, but strategies families use to keep several future options open. Parallel schooling, language barriers, and limited social inclusion place an added burden on young people, especially adolescents. The author concludes that “temporary” life between systems has become a lasting social condition shaping identity and life trajectories.
Oksana Žabko analyzes the surge of Ukrainian civic participation in Latvia. Drawing on interviews conducted for the ReCoM project, she examines why this self–organization is a unique phenomenon compared to the fragmented engagement of other newcomer groups in Europe. She highlights how displaced Ukrainians moved from seeking help at support centres to becoming leaders who apply their professional backgrounds in law, education, and administration to new community roles.