With the support of NGO “Stella”, the fourth-year student of the specialty 035 “Philology” Yana Kharchenko took part in the youth exchange under the Erasmus+ programme “Inclusion starts with accessibility”, which took place from April 27 to May 7, 2023 in Romania on the Black Sea coast. The Dutch organization “Rock Solid Foundation” and the Romanian organization “Adapto” acted as co-organizers of the large-scale international event. Exchange participants actively worked at two local locations – in the village of 2 Mai (Mangalia) and Kostinesht (Constanza).
In total, 56 participants from different countries joined the project, gathering to investigate the topic of inclusion and the issue of space accessibility for people with disabilities in the countries participating in the project. One of the tasks of the project was to shoot a video about the infrastructure of the village Kostinesht and its accessibility/inaccessibility for people with special needs. The data of the video should become a call to action for local authorities.
“The participants of the international youth exchange got acquainted with the taste of Romania, the traditions of other countries and, of course, had the opportunity to tell the world about Ukraine and the full-scale invasion of the russian federation. In addition, at the cultural evening, we showed a staging of a traditional courtship and wedding, treated the audience to national delicacies and taught Ukrainian dances.
It is nice that the organizers support Ukraine and invited two teams from our country at once! I also really liked the challenge where each country taught the others their language. A willing participant from one country came up and tried to correctly read the words and expressions written on the poster.
Of course, the Ukrainian language was in the greatest demand. So for a while we even felt like teachers of the Ukrainian language and taught foreigners basic conversational phrases!
We also organized a carnival evening. Each of the participants was able to show their creativity and ingenuity, creating their own unique image,” – says participant of the exchange Yana Kharchenko.
Among the participants of the project were also people with disabilities, during the 10 days of exchange, the organizers managed to unite everyone into one team and create a feeling of a cosy family atmosphere and teamwork.
“In my opinion, it is extremely important to discuss this topic and ensure the accessibility of space for people with special needs in every country! I am sincerely grateful to the organizers, participants and the Ukrainian team for the great atmosphere at the project! A special “thank you” goes to my teacher – Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Anna Kostyantynivna Pavelieva for her help, support and for an interesting introduction to Erasmus+ projects!” – shared her impressions student Yana Kharchenko.
It should be recalled that earlier female Polytechnic students took part in a youth exchange dedicated to discrimination and gender inequality, studied the conservation of natural resources and the economic growth of young people with the help of a healthy lifestyle, the student translator became a participant in the youth project against discrimination, xenophobia and bullying, the female Polytechnic students participated in the Erasmus+ project, dedicated to the development of environmental awareness of Europeans, and held a charity auction, philology students mastered practical skills in the field of ecology and environmental protection, considered the problem of alcohol addiction and methods of combating it, raised the level of awareness of cultural diversity, studied the problem of immigrants/ migrants and internally displaced persons.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
