The YMCA at Greenhill has provided a group of young people from Ukraine with a chance to escape the harsh realities of life in their home country, which was invaded by Russia in 2022.
Last week, a group of nine young people from different parts of Ukraine arrived at Greenhill, where they stayed for a week and made connections with eight young people from Newcastle.
The nine Ukrainians are members of different YMCAs from across Ukraine, including Odesa, Kyiv, Ternopil, Lviv, Nyzhne Selyshche-Khust, Boyarka and Kropyvnytskyi (Kropyvnytskyi-Kids).
One participant, Kamila Olizarenko, comes from Izium in the Kharkiv region, which was occupied. She now stays at YMCA Kremenchuk.
Earlier this year, Greenhill YMCA applied to be part of the YMCA Europe project called ‘Roots for Peace’, to run a camp for young people in conflict-affected areas. The tagline for the special ‘Camp Donard’ was ‘so you are not alone’.
Greenhill received notification of funding in June. They booked flights, organised visas and arranged travel for the group to make the two-day journey across Ukraine into Poland, where they flew from Poland to Dublin.
Mariana is the representative of YMCA Ukraine, president of YMCA Ternopil, and she led the group of Ukrainians.
She said: “We have discovered that a true community has no borders — even if we had to cross a few to get here.
“Cultural exchange is the shortest path to mutual understanding.
“We hope people here retain access to truthful information, stay open-minded, and hear the voices of our youth.”
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