Easter meeting for Ukrainian refugees

Beautifully set and decorated tables, guests dressed in their finest clothes, huge emotions. Longing for home, but also the joy of a taste of home here in Poland, at the university campus - the true spirit of Easter was present on Saturday 23 April 2022, during an Easter meeting for Ukrainian war refugees, which took place at the Student Culture Centre.

Almost two hundred people turned out for it. 'An unexpectedly large number,' said Iryna Svetsh from the university's refugee affairs team, which prepared the meeting. ‘We had to add more chairs very quickly. It was a bit cramped, but the atmosphere was fantastic.’

Festive Saturday unlike any other

Guests were welcomed by Agnieszka Jukowska from the Marketing and PR Office of the OU, a member of the refugee affairs team and Iryna Svetsh, a Ukrainian who has worked at the University of Opole for years, and now is a coordinator of the refugee affairs team.

‘A week ago it was you who wished us, Poles, happy Easter,’ said Jukowska. ‘Today we wish you all the best for Easter, we wish you victory and, above all, peace.’

‘We are meeting on Saturday before Easter; at my house, it was the day of final preparations, cleaning, cooking, baking, preparing festive clothes which we were to wear at night at Orthodox church. This Saturday, here, looks completely different,’ said Svetsh, and tears came to many eyes. ‘Our days have been passing lately in sadness, in longing, but also with hope, with faith in our soldiers, with faith in victory. We have shown to the whole world how strong we are as a nation, how we can unite and support each other. Thank you for this! And I thank everyone who is helping refugees, who is helping us, the people of the university, so that the refugees can live a kind of normal life. Have delicious Paska. Slava Ukraini!’

To create at least a taste of Easter atmosphere...

The idea behind preparing the Easter meeting was very clear: to give refugees the opportunity to talk to each other somewhere else rather than just in the canteen or at the distribution point. ‘We wanted them, although far from home, to feel a sense of community, to get to know each other better, to feel the festive atmosphere,’ said Jukowska.

‘For us, Ukrainians, Easter is the most important, most joyful holiday of the year, during which we gather around the table to eat holiday dishes together and talk about everything. For understandable reasons, this holiday cannot be joyful, but we wanted to give our guests, and above all the children, a taste of the Easter atmosphere,’ pointed out Svetsh.

That is why the tables were filled with traditional Ukrainian Paska - yeast cake baked specially for Easter, various cakes, cold meat, salads and of course eggs. There were cold drinks, coffee and tea as well.

Children could paint and decorate Easter eggs at a special table, but the most fun they had finding chocolate eggs hidden in the bushes around the Student Culture Centre.

‘It's an unknown custom in Ukraine, we don't have a tradition of looking for chocolate eggs, but Ukrainian children liked it very much, they had so much fun,’ emphasised Halyna Hudyma, a member of the refugee team. ‘All the chocolate surprises were quickly found by older children, so we had to hide new ones in a flash so that the little ones could find the sweets too.’

To allow the adults to talk undisturbed, the children were looked after by Ukrainian teenagers at our kindergarten for young refugees at the SCC.

A bit of normality in the time of a terrible war

Although no one forgot about the war even for a moment, they managed to occupy their minds with something else, to feel the atmosphere of holidays, different from those to which our guests are accustomed.

And they themselves could not hide their feelings. Some even could not hold back their tears.

Despite a large number of participants, we managed to create an intimate atmosphere, full of closeness and trust.

We would like to thank wholeheartedly the people of goodwill, without whom the organization of the Easters meeting would not have been possible.

Many thanks to:

UO Chancellor Zbigniew Budziszewski

KnaufInterfer Aluminium Ltd.

Opole Branch of PFRON

Jaglo Confectionery Shop

Salomon Restaurant

Poland-East Association, Opole branch

Dr Anna Bruska

Paulina Panic