From January 4 to 10, Student Theater SAD and the DoBro volunteer organization will visit our defenders in eastern Ukraine. This will be the 8th trip organized by the Center of Student Chaplains. Together with the students, the student chaplain Fr. Marian Mysiakovskyi will also go to our servicemen to greet them with the upcoming holidays.
Celebrating Christmas in the East is already a tradition, as the first time when students went there was in 2015. This year Christmas Eve and Christmas they will celebrate in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region. In seven days they will cover about 3,500 km and visit about ten cities. Students will visit military units, schools, parishes of the UGCC, families, and the Protestant Church «Kovcheh».
According to the head of the Center of Student Chaplains, Fr. Yurii Ostapiuk, the purpose of the trip is to share the spirit of Christmas with our defenders, to give them a piece of festive mood, sincere love and kindness. But most importantly, thanks to this trip, people in the East will be shown the true history of Ukraine, the population will be introduced to our customs and traditions, and vertep and carols are a good opportunity for this.
«It is important that students are clearly aware of what is happening in the East, as well as be able to thank and support our fighters. It is especially gratifying that students are in demand for such trips, as they sincerely want to help the Ukrainian army. Also there are students whose relatives are fighting in the East, and that’s another reason why we go there. I would also like to add that it is important for a student to join such trips in order to be a conscious statesman, because it often seems to us that someone else has to build a state, but in fact this is the task of each of us».
Father Yurii admits that he is very happy to see how selflessly students are ready to serve the Ukrainian army. As vertep takes place on Christmas, students have to leave their families for this period, thus they sacrifice time they could have spent with their families.
«I am grateful to the parents of our students for their understanding, because Christmas is truly a family holiday, but young people still choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus among the military. These trips to the East definitely change them, and they have to see different reactions from the fighters: sometimes someone is biased, skeptical, even a little hostile, sometimes guys ask why we came to them. I think the reason for this is their personal prejudices, maybe some of them take offense at the church as an institution. However, in an informal conversation, they understand that we are the same people as them, and that the students are usually their peers and we can talk to them about different topics. I am convinced that our trips to the East have really changed many people, both students and fighters».
For Romana Prystai, a 5th year student at the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, this is her third trip to the East. The girl says that many volunteers go to these territories with material assistance and it is very important, but no less important is the moral support of the military. Therefore, students first of all try to maintain live communication, be with those who protect us, look them in the eyes and thank them.
«With our arrival, we show the defenders that they have millions of people behind them who believe in victory and are ready to fight with them to the end. We go to inspire them and inspire ourselves as well. During our travels we found real friends and family there. There are military units where we go regularly and there are those which we visit for the first time, but we are always being waited for and it is very motivating. I can proudly say that we have also become part of the army, and our volunteers can really be called heroes».
During her trips to the East, Romana had to meet many people and hear stories that struck the girl to the core.
«Last year in the East, at the hospital in Pokrovsk, I met Mykhailo. After vertep and carols, he approached us and brought a lot of sweets (apparently, he gave us everything he had). During the conversation, it turned out that the man was from Stryj region, and this is the place where I grew up. He even knew my village. It is difficult to describe how much joy I felt talking to him. I saw in his eyes a spark of gratitude and great sadness for his home. He asked how Stry was, did it change a lot. Mykhailo misses home very much, but he loves us and Ukraine much more, so now his home is there, in the combat zone ... In general, this hospital is a branch of the Lviv Military Hospital, and we were also approached by a doctor who said that all of them are waiting for students to sing carols, but not there, in the East, but at home, in their native Lviv ...».
Soon our homes will be filled with the joy of Christmas and it is especially nice that the Ukrainian carol will also be heard in the East. We believe that the light of the Christmas will be felt by every defender, even in the deepest trench, the farthest checkpoint or hospital. And the joy of the birth of Jesus that the students will announce and the warmth of their young hearts will soon unite us all.
«We go to give, but in return we receive much more. And having been there once, you want to go back there again and again, because you know – they are waiting for you there so much», - openly shared his thoughts Polytechnic student Romanna Prystai.