how young people volunteer and bring victory closer
[ad_1]
The Ukrainian Leadership Academy is the best thing that can happen to a teenager after school, says Maria Bokovnia. Although the girl entered both the state classical university and the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership after graduation, she still chose to study at the Academy.
“They don’t issue a diploma there, and sometimes it’s difficult to explain it to my parents and to myself. But it’s the best decision, because the study gave me skills and experience that are needed in life now. All the projects I’m doing happened thanks to the Academy. I had connections “connections, skills and experience,” the girl says proudly.
Maria studied even before the coronavirus pandemic, so the months between admission and graduation were particularly busy.
“The most memorable part of school and the beginning of the year with climbing Petros. You come and know no one, then together with other students you go to the Carpathians and climb to the top. If at the beginning you are strangers, then after the descent you are a team. Thanks to the Academy, I had honor to visit many cities of Ukraine with expeditions. Some of the places we visited are now occupied. We went to Oleshkivskiy Pisky in the Kherson Region, visited Mariupol and went on an excursion to Azovstal,” Maria shares.
After the start of a full-scale war, Maria moved to the city of Ottawa, in Canada. In this part of the world, they talk much less about the war and in some places they don’t understand why it is important, says the girl. So she wanted to create a project that would help foreigners learn about the war in Ukraine.
“Once in October, before Halloween, we discussed with a friend, also a graduate of the Academy, that we did not share the general festive mood. We decided to organize something so that the locals would remember Ukraine. We prepared posters in English, for example: “Witches are not scary – tolerate terrorism, that’s what’s scary”, “Skeletons are not scary, when there is no food – it’s scary”. #russiaisaterroriststate and a QR code to a website about the war in Ukraine were placed at the bottom of the picture. We wanted to draw attention to the problems of our country in the theme of the holiday,” explains Maria Bokovnia.
Posters were put up not only in residential areas of Ottawa, but also in downtown and government buildings. In addition, the girls made thematic posters on social networks with an appeal to share the initiative in other cities. The very next morning, most of Maria’s friends who are currently abroad responded to him. This is how the action spread to the cities of different countries of the world. The action was repeated before Christmas.
In December of last year, Maria Bokovnya started working at the Canadian Congress of Ukrainians as the National Coordinator of the Union of Ukrainian Students of Canada (SUSK). Before the anniversary of the full-scale war, the girl wanted to organize an action for students. However, it had to be something special that could really attract the attention of the local community.
“I wanted to do something with students, but also about students. After all, students should talk about people like themselves. My friend shared an idea that had already been implemented in Lviv at that time. Then symbolic diplomas were hung up near the city hall, which were “issued” to the dead students. We decided to repeat this idea,” recalls Maria.
This is how they began to collect the stories of students whose lives were changed by the war. Someone was forced to stop studying because of military service, someone died during shelling while studying in their apartment. In total, it was possible to tell about 36 young people who did not receive their graduation diplomas due to Russian aggression.
They decided to make the project personal: so they mostly told the stories of acquaintances and friends, as well as those who studied at the Academy. Stories were often chosen because of the personal pain of the exhibition coordinators, says Maria Bokovnia.
Students of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, SUSK and Ukrainian students in Ukraine and abroad joined the implementation of the idea. Many of them are graduates of the Ukrainian Leadership Academy. After some time, it was possible to organize the exhibition in most of the provinces where the student club operates.
Then the exhibition spread around the world and took place in 22 countries. Even now that the project has officially ended, the team is often asked to provide materials:
“We made a sufficiently detailed instruction document for those who want to organize our event. I thought: “Why not try to spread the campaign to other countries, because we have written step by step and in detail what exactly needs to be done.”
The event was organized on university campuses and in various public spaces, streets and galleries. Exhibitions were visited by world leaders, including the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Boris Johnson.
“Many people stopped, asked about Ukraine, cried. There are 36 stories, and even if I read one, they do not end. Many wrote on social networks that the exhibition was heartbreaking (painful – author). I wanted to show that Ukraine is not somewhere far away, but it’s right here,” says Maria.
The graduates are sure: even small volunteer initiatives that talk about the war in Ukraine or collect money for charity are important. The powerful actions of each person undoubtedly bring our common victory over the enemy closer. And the youth, who are not afraid of responsibility, can become a driving force for change and post-war reconstruction.
The program of the Ukrainian Leadership Academy is implemented with the assistance of the USAID Project “Economic Support of Ukraine”.
#TvorymoSebeTvorymoUkraine #MyUA
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
