teaching resources

We at LØS will always remember the morning when Russia invaded Ukraine. The day after the invasion, we alerted Civil Society in Development (CISU) that we were ready to do something – here and now. Our friends in Ukraine were at war and as an eco-community movement we stand together. From the first day of the war, people in the Ukrainian cities sought shelter in the countryside from the bombs. In eco-communities, there is always food in stock and room for guests. We asked CISU to release emergency funds for the work of establishing ‘The Green Road’ project, which quickly created a long series of safe places in eco-communities in Ukraine, where people from the war-torn cities could find shelter in the countryside.

It wasn’t long before LØS had half a million kroner in its account – and a little later, our budget miraculously doubled in support of our friends’ work.

Every day we have asked our friends in Ukraine what we can do here in Denmark to help. We ask them to be direct, that they should not see any needs as too big to ask us about. Whether it is a caravan, menstrual cups, baby food or water pumps, we will try to find the things that are missing – and send the things down with one of the many trucks that leave every week. It is a team of Ukrainians from GEN Ukraine, who have come to Denmark because of the war, who together with us collect, pack and ship.  

We talk together on Zoom and try as Danes to understand what our Ukrainian friends are going through. Anastasia, Iryna and Maksym are the three permanent coordinators for our project. When I first met Maksym, who heads GEN Ukraine, his English was a little difficult to understand. But he was everywhere, knew everything and acted as a center for information, communication, knowledge and people. Together we have participated in conferences within the eco-community movement, been to COP24 in Poland and met for seminars in Denmark.

Ukrainians have placed themselves firmly on the map of national networks in Europe and want to spread the values ​​and unique lifestyle of eco-communities across Ukraine.

Maksym is a humble man with big visions and many ideas. People around him describe him as their spokesman, as someone they truly trust to lead the GEN Ukraine movement.

GEN Ukraine has transformed itself from a sustainability movement into a kind of emergency relief organization that must function quickly and flexibly and meet a variety of needs. Often, Maksym shows up for a Zoom call with a cell phone to his ear. The needs are many, and they come from all sides, every hour, day and night.

Almost every day you can read Maksym’s new posts on Facebook. Even in a lukewarm Facebook translation from Ukrainian to Danish, they are moving stories. He inspires. Sometimes he also provokes, but makes hope and smiles emerge. His sentences are not entirely easy, it takes time to translate them, first into English and then into Danish. It’s a bit like you have to be inside his head to fully understand.

We have collected here some of Maksym’s writings from the first month of the war to share his universe. They document his perspectives on the daily reality, the challenges, the frustrations and the hope of coordinating and settling people in eco-communities in Ukraine.

It is our hope that the letters can capture and give a different perspective on how it feels for a person who has taken on a new role as a very agile activist during the war. About a work that is from person to person, from eco-communities to eco-communities. In this way, one can show a different picture than what one sees in the media.    

As a Dane, it is a gift to be so close to the people who work for peace and a future in the midst of a war that aims to break everything down. They do not talk in GEN Ukraine about establishing refugee camps, even though they house 2000 people. They welcome people into their communities, let them become part of the eco-community life and community that can potentially constitute a huge force in the reconstruction of Ukraine.  

In LØS we are proud of our friends, both those in Ukraine and those who are now here with us.
We hope that through the stories from Maksym you will come closer to the everyday life that war is also. They give hope for a different future. 

Camilla Nielsen-Englyst

Project coordinator in LØS