23/09/2026
“It was fascinating, and it felt like being welcomed into a new family, one where people are actually curious about your experience and want to hear it” — Oleksandr`s jorney through the Student Mentorship Program 🧡
“This trip broadened my horizons, gave me a break from thinking about the war, and showed me just how warm and open people can be. Everyone I spoke with over those days was simply incredible.
All the places we visited and everything we did were genuinely interesting and exciting. But none of it would have felt that way without the people. Over the course of the trip I met a lot of new people, most of them someone’s mentor or connected to the mentors somehow, and every one of them was so kind to us and so willing to share their wisdom, their experience and their advice. It gave me an enormous amount of energy. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone involved!
For those five days I really did step into a different reality, a reality without constantly holding back my own emotions, without fear, without thoughts of the war and its consequences. I had grown so used to all of that, and to feeling low all the time, that I stopped noticing it, and I honestly thought it wasn’t affecting me at all. If it hadn’t been for this trip, I would never have broken out of it.
War changes the way you look at certain things and drains the value out of them, when in fact they matter and they shape our lives. I’m profoundly grateful to everyone who made this possible, and for all the emotions they gave me. This trip will stay in my heart forever.”