Ukrainian Vibes are back – With a new constellation and more difficulties than before
It was the 11th of April when we all came together, the new team of Ukrainian Vibes, at the office of Democracy International in Cologne, and started discussing our project. We all sat together at this small white lacquer table, covered by the breakfast we just had, discussing the possibilities of the direction of this year’s Ukrainian Vibes project. Originally, a tour through Ukraine was planned with discussion events in all big cities of the country. According to the tragic events taking place in Ukraine since February this year, another strategy was needed.
Our team was put together by the volunteering programme ASA, an initiative by the German service for development organisation ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and shall create a project to increase intercultural communication and general awareness about sustainability, democracy, and its difficulties within and beyond the borders of the EU.
Ukrainian Vibes was and will once again be based on an exchange between the two partner countries, Germany and Ukraine, and creates a wider understanding of global issues, as well as a sensible communication between these two cultures. In full support of and in collaboration with Democracy International in Cologne and the partner institutions in Ukraine, the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (NECU) and Change Communication (CC), the Ukrainian Vibes project will last till the end of summer 2022.
To achieve these goals, our activities will culminate in four offline and four online discussions within the European Public Sphere initiative bringing together as many participants as possible regardless of their origin or their age.
Our Ukrainian Vibes Team: Anna (Kyiv), Nele (Leipzig), Olha (Kyiv) and Katharina (Göttingen). We are currently located at the Democracy International Office in Cologne.
Our team already reflects the intercultural exchange and equal collaboration that every international project should see as its point of departure. It consists of two Ukrainian and two German participants focusing together on the challenge of connectivity of citizens within and beyond the EU border. Anna, from Kyiv in Ukraine, has a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics. With her huge knowledge of history, she is our expert on one of the main topics of the tour, difficult history. Nele, a social scientist from Saxony in Germany, knows not only how to understand social difficulties and aspects but is also a great organizer and manages the structure of the project. Olha, from Kyiv in Ukraine, is doing her masters in environmental science and puts a lot of creative input into the project next to her studies. Katharina, the last participant, is from the South of Germany and has a bachelor’s in physics. With her technical knowledge and her ongoing journalistic studies, she’s predestined to set up the website and its contents. Our coordinator Anne from Democracy International works as our advisor and helps us a lot with her knowledge about project management and other difficulties that occur during the project time. In addition to that, the work with our partners in Ukraine, NECU and CC, just strengthens our project with their expertise and in cooperation, we will create a form to detect crimes against the environment.
Since the end of Ukrainian Vibes last year in the summer of 2021 and the start of Ukrainian Vibes 2022, a lot of things have happened. New participants have been selected, the project has been rebooted and the Covid-19 restrictions are finally almost lifted. But the full-scale war had just begun.
As it is a well-known fact, Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022. Naturally, the feasibility of the project was critical. The two ASA participants had to be given top priority.
Ukraine’s geographical location and its fertile soil decided its sake quite a while ago. Ukraine has been occupied by at least 14 states in the course of its history. Despite the emerging difficulties, the Ukrainian people held together, which finally led to the long-awaited independence on 24 August 1991. Thirty years later, the country finds itself threatened, yet again. As mentioned above, a situation occurred resulting from an almost unimaginable history of occupations, constraints and pure brutality.
This is our new logo for the Ukrainian Vibes Project. It is designed by Olha Mordiuk in the style of last year’s logo, which is made by Katharina Assmann.
Despite the difficulties caused by war, which made everyday life in Ukraine difficult and uncertain, Olha and Anna, as well as the Ukrainian partners, decided to carry out the project. After all, dialogue, exchange, and understanding are needed now more than ever. Furthermore, it was an opportunity to bring Anna and Olha to Germany where they would be safe.
Our team set the main goal to help Ukraine as much as possible with this project. The Ukrainian Vibes project is mainly about an intercultural exchange, but now with the war present, we are trying to create awareness, not only about the general situation and the serious consequences of war, but we want to find solutions and promote possibilities for action for the hopefully near future post-war situation in Ukraine. We want to collect the stories of Ukrainians first-hand and want to allow everyone outside of Ukraine to understand their situation as much as possible by asking questions directly to Ukrainians. The project isn’t about making anyone feel guilty or powerless by a lack of engagement. Instead, we want to identify roads towards feeling responsible and display possibilities of taking action. It is about adopting a different point of view. Keeping that in mind, this year’s project is even more important than first thought.
So we all sat there together at this small white lacquer table and we thought about a possible outcome of the project. Ukrainian Vibes will take place and it will certainly include Ukrainian citizens. As history taught us, Ukraine isn’t destined by its location but by its people. Right now the people of Ukraine are unfortunately spread all around the world. We would like to bring them together in a safe space and give them the chance to exchange and share their experiences with others.
Written by Katharina Bews.
Translated into Ukrainian by Anna Proskurina and into German by Nele König.
