On the 16-20 of October we had the last meeting of our cooperation KA2 project “Welcome to Europe, Ukrainians” 🇺🇦🇪🇺, which took place in the town in Golegã, Portugal 🇵🇹
The first day of the meeting we spend in the City Hall of Golega, where we discussed issues with the mayor and the vice-mayor of the town. We learned how the Portuguese government is supporting the Ukrainian refugees and how they provide them with anything needed. In the afternoon we had long discussion with NGO representatives exchanging cooperation practices 💬💭🙋♀️
On the second day we visited the “Casa Estudio Carlos Relvas”, a studding architectural masterpiece from the 19th century, which was the very first photographic studio in Portugal. We had the incredible pleasure to have an interactive session with Mr. Vasco Malta - Head of Mission of the International Organization for Migration at the UN 🌍🗺️🤝
From the panel, we learned in detail what is the difference between refugees and immigrants and what hard choices they need to make, in order to escape from their homelands. We had to solve issues by choosing a concrete answer and by putting ourselves in the shoes of the refugees. Mr. Vasco Malta also shared some of his experience during his career in the field 🎗️
In the evening we cooked in traditional teams our own national dishes from our countries 🇱🇹🇧🇬🇵🇹🇵🇱🇺🇦 and danced a lot🇵🇹 🥗🥙
On the third day we went to the Paladin factory, (which makes ketchup, mayonnaise for McDonald's). In the conference room of the factory we were able to hear from the Ukrainian youth workers; how they are able to support other Ukrainians. We also spoke with an Ukrainian founder of a foundation that is devoted to helping other Ukrainians 🇺🇦🇪🇺
