Freedom School
A Humane Waystation for Newly-Arrived Immigrants
A note to North Carolina readers: Food banks in NC will lose $11 million in USDA funding due to Trump-DOGE. If you have any funds or foodstuffs to spare, please consider donating to your local food bank. As in so many places, hunger is growing here. The Central-Eastern NC food bank alone will lose $2 million of that total. https://foodbankcenc.org/about-us/locations-contact-info/durham/
And now for a bright spot, miles and moral worlds away from D.C.: the Freedom School (Vabaduse Kool) in Tallinn, Estonia. The school was founded by the Estonian government in 2022 when the school system in the capital, Tallinn, couldn’t adequately address the needs of 13,000 Ukrainian refugee children and adolescents. “There are still a few thousand who are known to need a place in educational institutions,” Liina Kersna, Minister of Education and Research, said at the time. “We share the responsibility for teaching Ukrainian children in general education.”
We share the responsibility.
Contextually, the federal minister was speaking of sharing the burden with the Tallinn educational system, but their plan for the school was also based on a strong sense of shared humanity. Those planning the school understood the importance of celebrating the new students’ cultural heritage. Part of the Freedom School’s mission became keeping their students connected to their roots. Up to 40% of lessons are currently taught in Ukrainian, and cultural traditions of the students’ former homeland are showcased. Spaces were also reserved for Ukrainians in vocational training programs. Educational technology companies also stepped up, translating their digital academic platforms into Ukrainian at no charge.
Announcing the digital contributions, Kersna noted the need for the refugees’ psychological recovery from a harrowing transition. “We must give families arriving here time to adapt as well as support their mental health,” said the minister. “Thereafter we can slowly integrate children into the education system and offer them feasible and versatile support.” Psychological staff became integral to the plans for the school.
Time to adapt. Mental health. Support. Such words relax the heart.
I am learning about the Freedom School one day after reading the story [link below] of a Canadian woman’s weeks in U.S. detention. Jasmine Mooney’s U.S. work visa, in her hand at the U.S. immigration office at the San Diego border as she tried to return to her life in the States, mattered not at all to the officials there. Her lack of a criminal record also failed to help her. She was frisked, then held in one “freezing cement cell” after another, sleeping on mats with an inadequate foil-like blankets. She was kept clueless about her case and was moved often – in chains - between detention facilities.
The kindness of Mooney’s fellow detainees saved her emotionally. Many of them had been lost far longer than she in ICE’s byzantine bureaucratic maze. “The real issue,” she learned, “was how long it took to get out of the system, with no clear answers, no timeline and no way to move forward.” (Much the same can be said about Ukraine’s war.)
My heart contracts for the detainees. So far, DOGE seems not to have taken on ICE’s bureaucratic tangle. Could that be because its maze serves as an extra level of entrapment? (After reading Mooney’s article, I am steeped in ICE’s endemic suspicion.)
In the end, Mooney’s status as a well-connected white woman paid off. Friends kicked up enough publicity to get her out.
Despite a teacher shortage and a short timeframe in which to pull Freedom School together, it opened in the fall of 2022. Director of Education, Olga Selistcheva, welcomed the 560 students warmly. “Each of our students has their own story to bring to our school, but I believe that from today on they will be able to add a beautiful new side to their existing stories, full of joy in learning and discovering, nice meetings and making new friends.”
Over videocall, the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, spoke of the “freedom” learning confers. The new Minister of Education and Research, Tonis Lukas, also touted freedom. But his was a lesson in its fragility, one we here in the States are learning daily. “The meaning of freedom is not recognized until it starts to disappear…,” Lukas said. “Freedom is neither given nor given as a gift, it must be taken and defended every day.”
Several years later, Aubrey Lay, a Fulbright Scholar from the U.S. who taught at Freedom School, avowed that the school – and Tallinn - enthusiastically validated Ukrainian heritage. “Support for Ukraine is palpable in Tallinn,” she wrote, listing a variety of community initiatives. In her classroom, “we discussed the unique urgency of studying and supporting Ukrainian culture and language globally at a time when Russia seeks to erase Ukrainian culture and history outright.”
Their own story to bring. Defended every day. Palpable support.
A mere 34-years after liberation from Soviet domination, many Estonians can relate to the plight of their new neighbors.
Now, should you suspect that I’m lionizing Estonia’s attitudes, you are, to this point, correct. There are problems there, as everywhere. The Global Detention Project reported [in 2023?] that “…public discourse surrounding migrants and foreigners is heavily marked by fear and animosity.” The country has a dedicated immigration detention facility for those who threaten “public order or national security.”
Certainly, the immigration scenario in Estonia and in the U.S. cannot be directly compared. U.S. immigration’s bureaucratic maze is bested only by its other higher order one: a tangle of history, culture, racism, politics, and inertia that have confounded simple solutions. The country’s southern border sits above numerous countries riven – despite their rich heritages - by gangs, economic hardship and, often, corruption. The Estonian population is 1.369 million in 2025, with the country’s 2024 immigrants comprising only 1% of that. Not to mention that Ukrainians, who in 2022-2023 were by far the largest contingent of Estonian immigrants, are whites entering a primarily white-skinned country. Still, differing ethnicities and languages pose their own challenges.
The motivation and goals for the Freedom School, however, were not complicated. As they emerged from the maze of war, the Ukrainian students were encouraged to feel proud of their identity. That validation increased their chances for not only academic success but also for feeling respected and included. From that foundation, they would develop the tools to stay, or to leave Estonia for home at a later point. That choice, in and of itself, offered freedom.
The school’s humane qualities - welcoming, support, respect for difference, and empathy – have helped Estonia feel like a close second to home for many. As one student put it, after a difficult leave-taking from both Ukraine and her father, “When we came to Estonia, I began to feel more welcome and calmed.”
Sources:
https://www.educationestonia.org/estonia-opens-freedom-school-for-ukrainian-war-refugees/ “There are still…”
https://www.educationestonia.org/estonian-edtechs-are-providing-digital-solutions-to-ukrainian-children-free-of-charge/?_gl=1*12usags*_up*MQ..*_ga*NTI5NTIwNzc5LjE3NDI0Njg0NjE.*_ga_41JBKCNG0Y*MTc0MjQ2ODQ2MC4xLjAuMTc0MjQ2ODQ2MC4wLjAuMA.. “We must give families…”
https://www.hm.ee/en/news/560-young-ukrainians-begin-their-studies-freedom-school-estonia-0
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney “The real issue …”
https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine
https://stat.ee/en/find-statistics/statistics-theme/population/migration
https://www.huri.harvard.edu/news/2025/02/estonias-fulbright-program-husi
https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe/estonia
https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/518112013013/consolide “public order...” Estonian Aliens Act
https://www.thelionsroaratpsu.org/psuinternational/education-far-from-war-estonia-freedom-school-ukrainian-children/ “When we came to Estonia…”
Hi Marian,
Thank you so much for this post. So beautiful to hear about the Freedom School in Estonia. “Time to adapt. Mental health. Support. Such words relax the heart.” brought tears to my eyes. It is so important now for us to hear good news like this. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Synchronistically, I learned last week from visiting musician Elise Witt about a school in Clarkson, Georgia, where Elise was music director for the past 15 years. It is called Global Village Project. https://globalvillageproject.org/who-we-are/about-global-village-project/
GVP’s website, with wonderful photos of their students, says they are ‟the only school in the US dedicated to meeting the educational needs of refugee young women and preparing them for high school.”
I wish Global Village’s clarity on the meaning of DEI could be posted on billboards everywhere.
Diversity - The quality of being different or unique at the individual or group level.
Equity - An approach that ensures everyone has access to the same opportunities.
Inclusion - Valuing the perspectives and contributions of all people.
And thank you also Marian, for letting us know about the impact of DOGE on food banks and for giving us the link to support NC food banks. Love, Kathleen