Kiev (AFP)

Her mother rejected her and her classmates harassed her when 13-year-old Katia announced that she was a lesbian. Two years later, a television series made her realize that she was not alone.

"It was very hard," said AFP Katia, who prefers to keep her last name quiet. "My mother told me that I no longer existed for her," continues this plump, rather seasoned young girl who is now 15 years old.

At the time, in his school in Kryvy Rig, an industrial city in the center of the country, his classmates stopped talking to him. Faced with the pressure, "at one point, I ended up getting up in front of the whole class and saying + I'm straight, I'm fine," she explains.

His lifeline came much later and unexpectedly: a Ukrainian television mini-series, called "Early swallows" and devoted to the problems of adolescence.

Watched by more than 3 million Ukrainians, the series launched in November tackles subjects such as school and family violence but also homosexuality and the problem of suicide, themes which are largely taboo in this former Soviet republic.

It is now enjoying a second life with its launch in March by its producer Novy Kanal after the closure of schools due to containment decreed in Ukraine to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

Looking at her, "I felt for the first time that I was no longer alone," says Katia, "I saw that there are many LGBT teens, those who have problems with their mothers. They are doing well and so am I. I'm going to get by. "

At the beginning and at the end of each episode, the series displays the toll-free number of the international NGO La Strada offering psychological and legal aid to adolescents.

As a result, the number of calls soared to more than 6,000 in the first month of broadcast, compared to a thousand previously, Aliona Kryvouliak, coordinator of La Strada's green lines, told AFP.

Most dealt with violence against children, harassment and the desire to commit suicide, some concerned alcohol and drugs, there were also calls from LGBT children.

Katia also phoned. "They told me one important thing: that my mom may just be afraid for me," she recalls. "It helped me comfort and understand it."

- Increased violence -

The confinement triggered a new wave of calls to La Strada.

"The number of complaints about parental violence and child abuse has increased," says Kryvouliak, who finds a link between aggressive behavior and the increasing use of alcohol by parents, some of whom have lost their jobs, in this period of closed family.

The fact that these adolescents turn to La Strada reflects the shortcomings of the government support system, admits Aksana Filipichina, collaborator of the representative of the Parliament for human rights.

One of the poorest countries in Europe, Ukraine, whose social services suffer from a chronic lack of funding, nonetheless adopted in 2018 a law against harassment at school, which resulted in some 200 convictions, she points out.

But cases like Katia's, which do not involve physical violence, are more difficult to deal with, concedes the official.

Producer and screenwriter Ievguen Tounik, who drew on the experience of his own adolescence while working on the series, hopes to start filming the second season this year.

"When I learn that children are starting to chat with their parents, that parents have watched the series and are paying more attention (...), I feel satisfaction for the work done," notes the young man.

© 2020 AFP