FORTH PROJECT.
MARCH 2024

THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY

First meeting. Participants were recommended by their Commanders, so many did not know what to expect from the project.

The first acquaintances, the first discussions of our plans and intentions - something very unclear, but definitely interesting, is ahead.

FERRY

This time we tried an alternative way of getting to Sweden - by ferry. It seemed like 18 hours of sea travel was too exhausting, but this mean of transport helped us create a "buffer zone" between the war and the civilian world.

And the incredible sunset upon leaving the port added  the charm to this trip from the very beginning.

WELCOME TO SWEDEN

On this day, we explored our new locations for the next 10 days: we started getting acquainted with a short bus tour of Stockholm, and after hotel check-in, we went to get to know the territory of our hotel island.

This day is adaptive, so we do not overload it with additional activities.

ACQUAINTANCE

We started this day with a great acquaintance - everyone shared some facts about themselves and their expectations from the project. Next, we established common rules of stay - this is important for the formation of a healthy atmosphere between completely new people. And the evening lecture on psychology gave us an understanding of what happens to our psyche during the war.

DAY OF UNITY

This day of our stay at the project, we devoted the importance of unity. We spent the morning on a walk with the forester Hans, we spent lunch with our lovely Maryna Trattner, a researcher of the treasures of the Swedish archives about Ukraine. We also got acquainted with singing techniques in "Spivʼyarna" by Denys Petryshyn, and spent the evening cheering for the Ukrainian national football team.

EXPERIENCE EXCHANGE DAY

On this day, we visited the Viking museum and the Skansen, open-air ethnographic museum. Then we a great walk through the city of Stockholm and meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden and the Minister of Health of Sweden. We discussed the possibilities of partnership in training and exchange of experience between Ukrainian and Swedish doctors, medical supply needs and many more.

KAROLINSKA HOSPITAL AND
MEETING WITH THE MINISTER

We spent this day at the Karolinska Hospital and the Aleris Rehabilitation Center. In the evening we met for the fourth time with the Minister of Defense of Sweden, Paul Jonsson, and he showed for the fourth time that Sweden was, is and will be a reliable ally of Ukraine in the struggle for independence.

A DAY ON THE ISLAND

This day was similar to the previous one, but here we also added a psycho-educational lecture as a tool to support yourself and your peers. Our task is to share knowledge so that after the project, the military knows how to act in crisis psychological situations and why they occur.

EASTER IN SKANSEN

The dates of our trip coincided on the Catholic Easter. Skansen, an open-air ethnographic museum, is especially active during this period. So we chose this period for our visit. Then the participants could choose other museums to choose from, because most of them are located on the same island.

ABOUTH THE 1000-YEAR HISTORY OF UKRAINIAN-SWEDISH RELATIONS

This day we were discovering the exhibition in Army Museum which showcases unique items from both Sweden and Ukraine, spanning from the Viking Age to contemporary war zones. Few weeks before, the King of Sweden opened this exhibition showing the importance of this topic one more time.

UNIVERSITY OF SPORTS

On our last day in Sweden, we visited the University of Sports. Here we took part in a discussion of sleep problems among military, got acquainted with the equipment for measuring the endurance of athletes and visited the oldest operating stadium of the Olympics. And the snowy weather arranged for us an additional attraction with snowballs for 120 people)

RETURN TO UKRAINE

At the station in Kyiv, we were met by the commander of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Major General of the Medical Service Anatoly KAZMIRCHUK, who once again showed the importance of our doctors.
After the final speech of the organizers, we hugged each other and went to the places according to our points of responsibility for the sake of saving the lives of our soldiers.