"Will there be a children's trip to Poland this year?" This question was among the five most frequent requests to the KPI trade union committee before the start of the recreation season. And it was very pleasing, because it shows the successful experience of previous trips. At the same time, this imposes a great responsibility on the trade union, because it is necessary to "keep the bar high" despite the challenges and problems of today.
The trips to Poland, which were so popular with young Polytechnic students and their parents, are the result of an international social project within the framework of cooperation between the Warsaw Polytechnic and Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Since 2014, our Polish friends have been organizing a meaningful vacation for a group of children aged 10 to 15. For ten days, the children live at the bases of the Warsaw Polytechnic, have a rich excursion program, and gain invaluable experience of staying in a European Union country without parental care.
Our Polish colleagues were very empathetic to the circumstances in which our children found themselves as a result of Russia's full-scale military aggression. If until 2022 the Polish side organized the reception of one group of 22 children, last year and this year two groups received invitations.
So, on August 18, 47 children accompanied by seven adults left for Poland and returned to Kyiv on August 29. It was ten bright, unforgettable days that flew by in a flash. This year, the project was implemented at the training and recreation center of the Warsaw University of Technology in the town of Grybów, Małopolska Voivodeship. The children lived in cozy rooms, and a varied menu in the dining room allowed everyone to choose a dish to their liking.
All conditions for active recreation were created on the territory of the base. We held and determined the winners of table tennis, volleyball, and table hockey tournaments. Every day started with exercise. In the evening there was a disco. Our children received what the coronavirus epidemic and the war mercilessly took away from them. Lively emotions, sincere communication, first loves and the first "slow songs" in their lives - everything that should happen at the age of 13-15 and that will remain in their memory forever.
A well-designed and organized excursion program gave us the opportunity to get acquainted with the architecture of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the life and habits of ordinary Poles.
We visited the town of Krynica-Zdrój, a resort pearl of Poland, famous for its healing springs, fabulous architecture, and various entertainment. The reward for climbing Mount Parkowa was a ride down steep steel chutes. Everyone - kids, adults, and even some of their chaperones - went with bated breath!
The excursion to the center, which was created as a social rehabilitation center for people with mobility impairments, also left no one indifferent. The hospitable hosts conducted a tour of the stables, gave everyone the opportunity to debut as a rider, and treated them to a delicious barbecue. In memory of the visit to this place, imbued with positive and humanity, each child created a design of a cup with horses with the help of a specialist.
An excursion to the Petrified Town Nature Park in Cenžkovice was also interesting. An hour in the swimming pool of Struže was full of drive and relaxation at the same time. The climb to Mount Helm made us strain and sweat a little.
The crown of the excursion program has always been and will remain Krakow, the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. A few hours in this city is definitely not enough to immerse yourself in its magic. However, they are enough to make you fall in love with it forever. We waved to the bugler at the Town Hall, listened to "Gaudeamus Ignatius" in the courtyard of the Jagiellonian University, waited for the fire to come out of the mouth of the Wawel Dragon (a character from Polish legends immortalized in a monument on Czerwieński Boulevard in Krakow that spews flames every five minutes), and took selfies on Wawel. Wherever possible, we made wishes. We have only one wish - victory and peace in Ukraine.
With a sincere belief in the further development of our cooperation with the Warsaw University of Technology, I would like to express my gratitude to its rector Krystof Zaremba, as well as to Beata Jankowska, Justyna Andrzejkiewicz, Katarzyna Budzik, and all the staff of the training and recreation center in Hrybiv. A great deal of preparatory and organizational work on the Ukrainian side was carried out by Yuriy Veremiychuk, Deputy Chairman of the Trade Union Committee of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Oksana Zakharchenko, Olena Tarasyuk, Natalia Nikitina, Valeria Bezugla, Tatiana Lysenko, and Victoria Kolomiets were with the children 24/7.
We hope that the good traditions of cooperation between the Warsaw Polytechnic and Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute will become a good foundation for the further development of our relations.