YMCA Europe General Assembly 2022 was undoubtedly a great event for many reasons. One of them can be the amazing performance of the music team which made the days of the delegates more beautiful, filling them with emotion and warmth. In this article, we introduce an amazing young lady from Ukraine, with a very inspiring […]
Edina and Ana
Edina and Ana are twins with kind hearts and brilliant minds from Romania. They have been volunteers at YMCA Romania for more than ten years and contributed to youth development and empowerment through camps and various activities. Both are interested in sports, often participating in different running or hiking tournaments, balanced by their artistic skills. […]
Rooting For Humanity: Lesya and Victory Gardens
Lesya Kalenychenko is an active member of YMCA Boyarka and one of the most outstanding participants of the Roots Be a Voice Not an Echo project held in September 2021. During the project, Lesya demonstrated incredible critical thinking skills, creativity, open-mindedness, and a kind and friendly attitude towards every participant. Unfortunately, like millions of Ukrainians, […]
Stories about humanity: Alina Revenko
Alina Revenko has been in the YMCA for many years, as she says – almost forever. She is a part of YMCA Kremenchuk, a board member of the national YMCA movement in Ukraine and a youth trainer. For her, it was always important to be a part of the work for the community and especially […]
Stories about Humanity: Andy Tomsa
“It all started so quickly, nobody expected that a war would occur right in the heart of Europe. And yet, here we are, silently watching the news feed reporting on the horrors of an ongoing war in Ukraine. It was a very strange feeling. I was thinking about all those friends and colleagues of mine […]
ROUA – Community of Hope
ROUA Community Center is a safe space with integrated services and activities co-created by a Coalition made by Asociatia DEIS, YMCA Romania, City Makers, ASNV, Fundația de Voluntari Somaschi, YMCA Baia Mare, Rotaract Baia Mare, Rotaract T.E.A.M. Baia Mare, ASNV, together with Ukrainian refugees with the support of Action Aid, funded by Disaster Emergency Committee […]
The Sound of Peace
While the terrifying sound of sirens from the other side of the border was freezing the blood in people’s veins, the air got filled with the beautiful voice of a young girl singing about love. Lina, a 24 years old artist from Kharkiv, had just crossed the bridge and was sitting in the middle of […]
Two Countries – One Heart
Maria is an ethnic Romanian, born and raised in Ukraine, in a small bordering town between Romania and Ukraine called Apsha de Jos/ Nizhna Apsha. She was an art teacher at the local school, meanwhile contributing to her community as an ambassador of the organisation Colors of Peace/I Colori Per la Pace, living an active […]
The Bridge
But how can something that is meant to divide people, become the connector? While speaking about solidarity and unity, the last location that might occur in one’s mind is the border post, as since the inception of times, borders were administrative units that served the purpose of separating, not connecting; however, this story tells how […]