by Giovanni MOZZARELLI

14 December 2009

On Thursday evening, the 10th of December, at least three UNV volunteers experienced these overwhelming feelings while they sat on the train headed for Volovetz, the first stop on the way to the UNV retreat. Rarely has Kiev seen such a massive traffic jam. To be completely honest, the other volunteers waiting for them at the train station were also a little worried and were eagerly looking forward for them to arrive.

Finally, after the train left the platform with all its passengers, everyone started to relax and the winter UNV retreat officially started. This second all-volunteer meeting for 2009 took place in Miezhgoria and was organized by the UNV COT. The UNV team gave a presentation about its activities in 2009 and facilitated a presentation by volunteers on projects conducted as part of the micro-grant programme.

One of these projects – Petrykivsky painting for children of refugees – was initiated by national UNV volunteers serving with UNHCR. After the group discussion, Tanya Kononenko admitted:

“This joint meeting proved to be very useful for our future actions. We received very positive feedback from our colleagues on our activities with refugee children and they inspired us with more ideas, like English or computer classes for children.”

Volunteers themselves contributed to the choice of the theme and directly organized some of the activities.

Vikoriya Shaban, the newest National UNV in the team serving in the UNHCR, ran training on “Living in a multiethnic society”, which was aimed to let people reflect on common stereotypes as well as to touch upon the subject of cross-cultural awareness.

“I have learned from fellow UNV volunteers some activities that might be useful for me in the future. As I am leaving soon and the situation is different in my home country, I will have to readjust to those conditions”, says Martina Souckova, International UNV volunteer from the Czech Republic, due to complete her one-year service in Ukraine.

Svetlana Sobova, National UNV volunteer in Cherkassy oblast, showed how to improve communication through role-plays and practical exercizes. Even after dinner, volunteers gathered together for a master-class on the technique of decoupage facilitated by Evgeniy Chepiga. They showed their artistic verve by decorating old objects in very inventive ways.

On the second day, Natalia Gozak conducted a hands-on training on Geo-Caching – a very popular game among youth in rural areas. The whole group divided in two and mapped new trails using GPS devices.

Upon their return to the venue two hours later, the retreat continued with training on gender mainstreaming, delivered by a lecturer from Uzhgorod State University, who introduced UNV volunteers to some fundamental issues of gender. The session raised a lot of interest and stimulated very lively discussion within the group. As Wendy Shapiro, International Project Manager, ventured:

“It was great to raise this topic for discussion as well as to have increased awareness on this issue. The material was valuable and discussion was useful for our project’s staff. This also gave us the idea of organising similar training for the rural youth that our volunteers work with.”