The project “Life and War: 10 Ukrainians – 10 Stories” was organized between 4 universities from three countries of the world: Istanbul University, Faculty of Journalism (Istanbul, Turkey), V.I. Vernadsky Taurida National University, Institute of Philology and Journalism (Kyiv, Ukraine), California State University Stanislaus (Turlock, California, USA), Oakland Community College Farmington Hills (Michigan, USA). The co-organizers of the project were the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the National Union of Women of Ukraine, the NGO “Student Journalistic Platform” (Truthful Reporting), and the NGO Association of Universities of the Third Age “Clepsydra”.
The war in Ukraine is the reason for numerous challenges for many people around the world. The Ukrainian people have changed their lives and learned to live and work in difficult conditions, and most importantly, they continue to fight.
The project became another step and an attempt to tell this process through the stories of Ukrainian citizens, namely Ukrainian youth, who are a kind of ambassador of the country and a flagship that foreign students look up to.More than 60 students from 3 countries took part in the project. Each of them had the opportunity to ask questions to the heroes, including war participants and their relatives, elderly people, and representatives of the youth sector of the country.Overall, in February and March 2023, 7 meetings were held to create 10 interviews in English, Ukrainian, and Turkish languages, and the final meetings with the demonstration of the results of the work are planned for April 17 and 19, 2023.
The initiative to conduct the project was proposed by Gayana Yuksel, an associate professor of the Department of Slavic Philology and Journalism at the Institute of Philology and Journalism of the V.I. Vernadsky Taurida National University, together with teachers Barbara Olave (California State University Stanislaus, California, USA) and Prof. Tony Baracco (Oakland Community College, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA), Prof. Dr. Ali Murat Vural (Istanbul University, Faculty of Journalism, Istanbul, Turkey). Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Marina Popatenko, Chairman of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation Dr. Vladyslav Berkovsky, Chairwoman of the Women’s Union of Ukraine Leokadia Herasymenko, Vice-President of the NGO “Klepsidra Institute for the Elderly” Prof. Alina Khalevska, and specialists from the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and representatives of public organizations helped organize the meetings.
Speakers included Professor Boris Cherkas, Doctor of Historical Sciences and employee of the Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, a researcher of the history of the Black Sea and steppe in the Middle Ages, and currently the commander of an infantry platoon in the Armed Forces of Ukraine; former Mufti of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Ukraine Said Ismagilov, who left all his regalia and became a military paramedic at ASAP Khottabych, and has been fighting near Bakhmut for a month now; paramedic from Azovstal Asan Isenadzhiev, who was at Azovstal until the very end and then fell into Russian captivity; the wife of a Ukrainian hero who gave his life for Ukraine, Hennadii Afanasiev – Lyudmyla Afanasieva; pensioners Nadiia Alyokhina and Mykhailo Eismont, who organized volunteer work with their friends; representatives of youth organizations Hanna Ryasna, Dmytro Tyshchenko, Kateryna Borovyk, student mayor of Lviv Stanislav Hvozdinskyi, who engage in volunteer activities, help soldiers and displaced persons.
