The People's House in Drohobych recently played "Shchedryk" by Mykola Leontovych. And not only on the occasion of the upcoming Christmas, but also the festival "Donetsk region nearby". The composer wrote his world-famous carol in Pokrovsk. His swallow flies on the city's coat of arms.
This and many other interesting facts about the culture, history and traditions of Donetsk region could be learned during the cultural and artistic festival initiated by Yevgenia Belytska with the support of the SMARTA NGO project "Ambassadors of Peaceful Change".
Yevgenia is a student of Donetsk National Technical University, and now an ambassador of peaceful change. The idea for the event came to her while studying in the project and was realized thanks to the combined efforts of many people from Donetsk and Lviv regions. This is SMARTA, and the creative team of the university, as well as the administration of the Donetsk region, Drohobych district and city administrations, whose representatives took part in the event.
As part of the festival, a photo exhibition “Woman and War. Stories “Before” and “After”” was held, created by the Department of Family, Youth and Mass Events of National and Patriotic Education of the Donetsk Regional State Administration. An exposition of historical and local history materials “Old Mine” was presented. Another exhibition told about the activities of the Coalition 1325 Donetsk Region “Woman, Peace, Security”.
Children and adults attended master classes on decorating New Year and Christmas decorations, learned how to paint shop windows with patriotic drawings, played the board game “Code of Donetsk Region” and enjoyed “Shchedryk” in an unsurpassed choral performance.
They also talked about the path that women who were forced to leave their homes in the Donetsk region have already traveled. The president of the NGO SMARTA, Liliya Kislitsyna, shared the experience of networking between the Coalition 1325 Donetsk region and the participants of the project “Ambassadors of Peaceful Change”, spoke about common challenges and achievements, and how local initiatives of women in different regions of Ukraine are becoming a continuation of a great social transformation.
Donetsk region was truly there – in conversations, in art, in traditions. This visit of the project team to Drohobych confirmed that ambassadors of peaceful change are able to establish partnerships, work with host communities, and maintain dialogue through culture, memory, and shared experience.
The network of ambassadors of Donetsk region in different parts of the country is growing, strengthening, and working.
The event was held as part of the SMARTA NGO project "Ambassadors for Peaceful Change" with technical support from UN Women in Ukraine and funding from the UN Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund.