Thanks to Volyn National University’s cooperation with the German Foundation for "Memory, Responsibility and Future" implemented under the "WE ARE NEAR!" Support Programme, a new project "Improving the Living Conditions of the National Socialism Victims by their Social Contacts Intensifying and Psychophysical Health Promoting" was presented.
The head of the project, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor Natalia Ulianytska, reported on the importance of supporting the individuals who have suffered from Nazism in Ukraine.
“The German Foundation for “Memory, Responsibility and the Future” is a joint initiative of the state, society and private business. It annually allocates an average of 300 thousand euros to Eastern European countries. It is addressed to the organisations the activities of which are aimed at improving the quality of older people’s life in their countries. The purpose of the support is to ensure that the life achievements of former Nazism victims are properly appreciated. The programme’s target group is people affected by National Socialism: former prisoners of ghettos and concentration camps, forced labourers, prisoners of war, and others. The Foundation supports the projects offering social assistance, as well as organising events to share experience or preserve the memory of Nazism victims. The university has a long history of grants, including cooperation with the German Foundation, " as Natalia Yaroslavivna admits.
Nelia Vavryniuk, Head of the Board of the Lutsk City Veterans' Organisation "Union of Prisoners - Victims of Nazism", noted that the project's activities are aimed at increasing the physical activity and psychological welfare of the elderly. That is why the project involves employees of the Department of Fitness and Cyclic Sports of the Faculty of Physical Culture, Sports and Health and employees of the Department of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy of the Medical Faculty together with students. The aim of the project is, first of all, to create a comfortable environment for the elderly, former victims of National Socialism by intensifying their social contacts and improving their mental and physical health.
To achieve all these goals, the following measures are planned:
• conducting interviews and lectures with specialists of the departments in order to provide opportunities for self-realisation and self-expression of the elderly and prevention of social isolation and exclusion from active life; identification of individual needs of the elderly in social assistance;
• organisation of mobile representatives of the target group meetings with partner organizations members, in particular, the NGO "The Parents of Children with Down Syndrome and Other Disorders";
• improving the quality of life with the participation of student volunteers, representatives of the target group and their relatives, children and grandchildren.
The step-by-step implementation of the project is planned to be covered in the future, which will encourage young people studying at Lesya’s University to take part in such events.
The Faculty of Physical Culture, Sports and Health
