One of the great examples of cooperation between French and Ukrainian cities, that was successfully initiated this summer under the auspices of the Stand With Ukraine, was the interaction between the French city of Saint-Menehould in the province of Champagne and the Ukrainian city of Kalynivka in Vinnytsia region.
In August, the city of Saint-Menehould has organised exciting holidays for Ukrainian children from Kalynyvka, whose parents are fighting for Ukraine now or, unfortunately, died defending our country,
On the 21th of August a delegation of 50 children and teachers from the Vinnytsia region arrived to Saint-Menehould and was welcomed by the mayor of the city Bertrand Courot and a team of activists and volunteers, who organized a rich program of stay for the children.
For 10 days, young Ukrainians lived an amazing adventure in a summer camp and took part in many creative and sports activities. Children learned the basics of pottery, survival skills in difficult conditions, built bonfires and archery, tried fishing on local lakes, played sports games, had picnics and rested in thermal pools. This visit was a great opportunity for children to learn more about French culture and practice their French, as well as discover the province of Champagne. The organizers of this project made one of the children’s dreams come true and organized a day-trip to Paris for them.
After visiting the must-see places and sights of the French capital, children were invited to the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Paris and the Embassy of Ukraine in France, which welcomes such great projects of cooperation between French and Ukrainian cities facilitated by the Stand With Ukraine.
Ukrainian children were touched by the solidarity of the French people and sincerely thanked their new French friends for their hospitality and engagement. Thanks to the Saint-Meneuld city hall, SWU and the team of volunteers Ukrainian children have had wonderful vacation and could forget at least a bit about the tragic war going on in Ukraine.
The French side was sincerely impressed by the creativity, patriotism and level of education of the Ukrainian children, and will be happy to welcome new delegations anytime soon.
Such projects serve an excellent example of necessity to establish dialogue between French and Ukrainian cities and territorial communities. Stand With Ukraine will continue to accompany these two cities in their further cooperation, in particular, as regards the reconstruction and the humanitarian cooperation. We are sure that this kind of people-to-people fruitful dialogue will continue and will be enriched with new projects and initiatives.
