The Ukraine ravers mixing parties with cleaning up war damage
By Jonelle Awomoyi
Newsbeat reporter
As the aroma of burnt debris looms in the air and the feeling of defense is not yet restored, you wouldn't expect to be met with a vibrant burst of technologically music from a bombed-out shell of a community building.
But that's just what is happening in Yahidne in northern Ukraine where a people of young Ukrainians are picking up their shovels to spruce up the ruins left by war.
Russia invaded the land in February, with many major cities targeted by missiles and artillery fire - leaving spacious buildings reduced to dust.
Ukrainian youth organisation Help Together have set up what they call "clean up raves".
They expected DJs to play techno music as volunteers and locals work together to restore areas that were recently liberated from Russian occupation.
"We are rebuilding," Darka Harnyk, one of the 200 volunteers who gathered at the House of Culture, tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
"It was the cultural centre that was burned down to the crashes, there were several walls left and we've been having a rave out there."
Darka, 22, says before the war she was able to "go out every weekend" and have raves that would run from Friday night to Monday morning.
But while seeing the devastation of the war and hearing near "this amazing idea of a rebuilding project", she was keen to get involved.
"Cleaning the mess, taking the cement and manager sure you could see the walls, that was our main goal," Darka says.
"Doing technologically parties and helping the world at the same time, divides Ukraine at the same time."
For Tania Burianova, one of the seven founders of Rebuild Together, seeing the big problems aspired "wanting to help these people" who are in need.
Techno raves were a big part of the 26-year-old's life, but exclusive of the chance to visit festivals and parties they've instead gave to bring the techno into their clean up.
"We posed DJs, and it was cleaning with music and this gave a lot of energy, motivation and inspiration for our volunteers," she says.
So what's next for Tania, Darka and the group?
"We've already cleaned three villages in one site and had nine events. We want to do it [clean] every week," Tania says.
And with winter coming, they feel the challenges for those in the worst-affected areas will be greater so they need to do more.
"Our next plans are to earn more than twelve houses in a village that we've already cleaned and maybe we can do more by the winter comes," she says.
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SRC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-62478582?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
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