Lviv. Three organizations

8.8

Arrived exactly on time, at 06.07. All trains in Ukraine runs exact on time. My experience after 7 times in this country.

An hour later Per-Olof Karlson “Perres matpåsar” appeared at our hotel with his girlfriend Vala. He had come down from Kharkiv to see both us and Odesa for the first time.

Perre with his Vala

Breakfast at City buffet. At 10.00 we were at Build Ukraine together. They bring young people together to renovate war damaged homes. They come as volunteers and work for shorter periods. They are working for their future, for their freedom to choose their own lives. Their parent generation grew up during Soviet time and  have difficulties to understand why to do anything for free without being ordered to do so. This was the explanation given by the young leader Martha.

In Ukraine it is mainly young people being active in volunteering organizations and in public manifestations. People below 35. In Sweden the median age of people present at the Monday Movement at Norrmalmstorg is not below 65 years. I can understand why young people take a leading role in Ukraine, but not why they seem to have less interest in the future of Ukraine.

After that we went to Social Drone located in an underground garage. Mykola is the name of the inventive man behind the idea that thousands of people sitting at home and making small drones. Components are purchased on internet, then tested and finally sent to the front. Impressive!

After lunch we went to visit Dzygas Paw. This is a very well organized charity organization that supplies the military with high-tech equipment. They have a good webpage with an ambitious transparency recording. Can highly recommend when you want to support Ukraine!

Iryna Zhluktenko. Dynamic, well edcated and young as all of her team

At 19.46 the train departed for Odesa and we were in our beds. The train ran along the foothills of Trans Carpatia, but I fell early asleep.

Odesa. Two organizations

9.8

06.54 we arrived punctually. Left our luggage at Hotel Palais Royal. Not at all as fancy as the name indicates.

At 10.00 we were at the Military equipment and cloths Factory. They call themselves On the Wave.

The next one to visit was Technary, which is a collective of highly specialized engineers and it-specialists. They construct digital air defense systems and training programs. We were taught how to shoot down drones and also did this with success using VR goggles.

Such a party at the beach

We had a very late lunch. In the evening we went to the beach to take a swim in Black Sea. Something I had looked forward to. I got two bottles of local wine to make a party on the beach. We were not alone. Thousands of people crawled on the beach, young girls hardly covering any part of their perfect bodies, fat men with huge bellies and women with enormous breasts. It was difficult even to find a patch of sand with space for us 10 visitors. I made my way into the water, swam 100 meters away from the crowd. We finished the wine and left the place rather quickly. I was disappointed indeed, but what could be expected a hot Saturday evening in the midst of summer. Odesa was better in April with an empty beach and really cold water.