Welcome to a very special photo album.
Let me preface by saying that this evening was a very special moment for Ukrainians in the city. Not only did they get a chance to feel the vibes we left at home, but there were attendees and participants who came from other cities. And the number of attendees exceeded by a lot more than we expected. We didn't even have enough space for all of the attendees.
Not only that, we also raised a lot of money that is going directly to Ukraine in the frontlines. How about that!
A major part of the event was also shown live through various channels.
Okay so the photo album, now.
Not everything is captured here. Being a small team with extremely tight budgets means that we have to take responsibility and leadership to handle everything. Literally everything. Not only organise the event, but then setting up the tables, hosting, decorating, cooking, serving, and even cleaning. That sometimes throws a wrench when taking the role of being a photographer among all the other duties.
Do you have this in your country? Do you know what these bunch of kids are doing?
Well, if you'd be at the Ukrainian Christmas event then you'd have learned. This is a very traditional style of caroling.
I gave a small speech explaining to the local attendees about the attire, and the significance both culturally and socially. The kids Carol around the area in such traditional attire from door to door and are given sweets.
This Carol had come from a different city almost an hour away to perform at the event. Until the night before, I wasn't sure they'd make it since they sent in a message last second. But thankfully they did, and it was wonderful. We don't have houses, so instead we put candies on every table and they went around collecting them in their sack.
I had handpicked the decorations for our main table a few days ago. Some of these decorations are handmade by the team and their friends. If this does not show you how they felt about working for the event then nothing will. They took time and effort, brought friends and ideas together, to make something that reminds us of home for a few hours. For the items that cannot be handmade, the team reached out to connections to see if anyone had these decorations here. The painting is one that I've shown earlier, and it had to be part of the decoration table.
I feel very lucky that this venue let us their kitchen. I always had ordering from a Ukrainian restaurant as a back up plan, but nothing beats food made by the community with love and for the purpose of spreading that love.
Food preparations had started days before. The Vareniki were rolled at a Ukrainian shelter as a team effort. The rest was done 3 hours before the launch of the party and went on until it was time to give our refreshments.
Kutya, Uzvar, and Vareniki, along with cakes was prepared for the attendees.
Now, here's the kicker.
Since there were so many attendees, we got nervous that there'd be not enough to give around. There's the Ukrainians and the local Dutch attendees. But it went smoothly.
I had to make the tough decision between cutting portions or ordering food that wouldn't be Ukrainian, Dutch, neither Christmasy. At the end, there was no need. The simple solution was to give people the option of what they'd like - Vareniki or Kutya? Not everyone wants to have both, so the simple freedom of choosing between the two made it just enough to feed everyone. And everyone was happy without noticing anything.
Over half an hour of beautiful Ukrainian carols. One group of Ukrainian children who had come from a different city, and the other was a group of Ukrainian ladies who are from my city.
We had a small TV show the lyrics, the pronunciation, and the translation. You might notice a few from the last carolling event.
For the children there were three workshops they could attend. Two happened in tandem in two rounds. The children, after finishing with one workshop, could switch. And after the two round, another workshop! The third one was more of just creative time, but with a goal in mind. We asked them to make post cards for their loved ones in Ukraine and we will send them to Ukraine ASAP.
In the photos you can see the two workshops. One is making "angels" with tissue paper and strings. It is a very cool and fun project to do, and the result is beautiful.
The other one was decorating gingerbread cookies. It sort of made me happy when I saw the parents being more competitive than the children. "LOOK HOW GOOD MY SON HAS DONE IT!" "MY DAUGHTER IS SO CREATIVE!".
These friendly moments is what the events are all about.
In the end, I'm really happy and feel honored I could do this. I am glad I'm part of a team that made this happen. It is certainly not easy, for any of us. But even then, through the mud and sludge, we tried to come together and create a beautiful memory, and a moment of relief for everyone- a touch of home, in a way.
Just last year, I did it basically alone. Now I don't have the chance to feel that way. Hopefully, there'll be many more events with bugger groups, bugger venues, and bigger hopes - and of course a party of Ukrainian victory!
This is the small team. The badges on our chests are momentos made for the team by our team member. How nice of her! We also gave Christmas presents to each other.
In the end, we raised money for Ukraine, brought people together, showed Ukrainian traditions, and enjoyed together...the exhaustion of the team sort of disappeared thinking of that.
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Such an amazing and heart warming initiative. The world needs more people like you guys :) Thank you!
@tipu curate 2
Thank you @phortun. There are more good people in the world than bad. You were a hero to me in my time of need - so more people like yourself are also needed.
I did absolutely nothing compared to you or Dawid ;)
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HEHEH watch the Bugger dude. Event looks memorable, well organized bro. Kudos to you and the team. Glad it all worked out and this year is to save you from tear, you gone and did something special.
Thanks bro! Yeah we tried our best and it turned out better than last year
Well done! Every time you do an event, you will get more experience. It will be a breeze next time ha ha.
Hopefully by this time next year we will be either celebrating a free Ukraine or at least I wont be needed to organise such events. that's the goal haha
I do hope you are right. ❤️
I'm really glad to see the event was a huge success. I think everyone needed this, to get their mind off of the daily struggle and the problems they are facing. Congrats to you and the team for making it happen.
I thought about what I would have done if I had been there, but I think I would have decorated gingerbread, folded napkins and tried everything.
The Kutya made me smile 😁. Kutya in Hungarian means dog and I had no idea there's an Ukrainian dish with that name, but thanks to your post, I have educated myself and who knows, maybe I'll try it out in the near future. Why not? 😎
HAHA I think Kutya means the same in either Pashto or western Pakistan/Afghanistan. It is very delicious, the food Kutya I mean.
There'd be a lot to do for you. Maybe even buy some handmade candles which were sold in the event.
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