For the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we were able to realise a dream of the children we support - to visit Lviv over Christmas.
Thanks to the WALO group (Netherlands) and Pavlo Mastyukh, 14 pupils from the Berezhan Lyceum from among children deprived of parental care, spent three unforgettable days in Lviv from 27 to 29 December 2023.
Father Roman Prokopets and his friends helped us to create the Christmas atmosphere. Children had the opportunity to stay in comfortable rooms, sing carols and enjoy Christmas dinner.
For some of the children, it was the first time travelling by train and they loved it. The experience showed the children the practical aspects of going on such trip: buying a ticket, being able to understand and read it, and responsible behaviour. The children also enjoyed traveling around Lviv on public transport, namely the tram.
The tour through the streets of ancient Lviv impressed the children, and especially the quest to find lion prints in the central part of Lviv. Both teams coped with the tasks and identified from 24 to 27 lion images.
The children learned the history of the origin of Lviv during the descent into the dungeon of the Jesuits. Children asked questions and found it very interesting. Also, a special moment on the trip was a two-hour quest in the museum in Temryava. Here, children immersed themselves in the world of blind people and tried to use other sensory zones while performing various tasks. We are grateful to the museum team for organising the quest, which the children took advantage of thanks to the "suspended tickets". For the children, it was an enlightening moment into the lives of blind people.
At the end of the trip, our group was welcomed at the Ukrainian Catholic University. The children were introduced to the infrastructure and the curriculum. High school students were impressed by the modern look of the university's rooms and asked questions about how to become a student at UCU. Thank you for the informative tour through the corridors of UCU.
Trips like this are an important part of raising children deprived of parental care rather than gifts and sweets on holidays.
At the end of the trip, the children returned to Berezhany safe, despite the nightly powerful attacks. It was a real shock for them as it was their first experience saw russian acts of aggression. Thanks to the friendly atmosphere created by the leaders of the group, the children survived this horror.
We would like to thank Rostyslav Rudenskyi, Volodymyr Yaaorskyi and Andriy Nazarenko for the leading the Christmas trip to Lviv.
