- The ‘Peace Holidays’ are held from April 26 to May 17 with leisure activities for 25 Ukrainian boys and girls in Pineda de Mar, Salou, Calella and Barcelona
- Carlos Prieto highlights that it is “an opportunity for children to enjoy a period of peace in time of war”
- The delegate announces that the Delegation has already initiated contacts with a school in Kiev for the second edition of the ‘Peace Holidays’
Barcelona, April 30, 2024.- The government delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, together with the mayor of Ochakiv, Serhii Bychkov, and the consul general of Ukraine in Barcelona, Artem Vorobyov, have received at the headquarters of the government delegation the 25 Ukrainian boys and girls who participate in the first ‘Peace Holidays’ held in Spain.
The event was also attended by the mayor of Pineda de Mar, Xavier Amor; the mayor of Salou, Pere Granados; and the first deputy mayor of Calella de Mar, Cindy Rando; the municipalities that welcome the participants and have had the assistance of the different public bodies and private collaborators.
SOLIDARITY INITIATIVE
Prieto has unleashed that this solidarity initiative promoted by the Government Delegation in Catalonia “embodies the best of the policy that is to put institutions at the service of people, wherever they see and whoever they are”. The delegate explained that the project of the ‘Peace Holidays’ “is born from the heart and is the continuation of the sincere support and outstretched hand that Spain and the Delegation have always shown to Ukraine, a European, democratic and fraternal country, and its people.”
In his speech, Prieto recalled the second anniversary of the beginning of the war, “a military conflict with well-known economic, social and personal effects that has been blinded, like all wars, with the most vulnerable, with their children.” Prieto stressed that the goal “is nothing more than to enjoy your childhood and a peaceful holiday full of fun and joy” and that it is “an opportunity to enjoy a period of peace in time of war”.
SECOND PEACE VACATION
The government delegate also expressed the wish that this project, which “is the first to take place in Spain with these characteristics”, should be available to any administration – be it municipal, supramunicipal or autonomous community of the entire State – so that it can carry out its own solidarity initiative or to collaborate with the next ones that can be organized by the delegation itself.
In fact, the delegate during his intervention in welcoming the children has announced that the Delegation has already started contacts with a school in Kiev to prepare the second ‘Peace Holidays’ for Ukrainian children.
CHILDREN OF OCHAKIV
The 25 participants in the ‘Peace Holidays’ are boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 17 from different schools in Ochakiv, a town at the mouth of the Dnieper, located about 10 kilometers from the battle front of southern Crimea. While the parents of some of the children continue to fight in the war against Russia, those of others have fallen on the front.
The mayor of Ochakiv, Serhii Bychkov, has built an underground school, because the city is being bombed by Russian troops almost every day. In this way, the children have not been interrupted in their schooling since they have been able to continue their classes in the bunker-school despite the bombing.
THE MAYOR OF OCHAKIV
The mayor of Ochakiv has thanked the Spanish Government for the support it has offered since the outbreak of the conflict since “the first humanitarian shipment that arrived in Ochakiv came from Spain.” Bychkov explained that the children, after their arrival in Catalonia, “have already been able to rest from the war and have regained their smile” and expressed confidence that “this first project can also be carried out in other cities and in other countries”.
For his part, the consul general of Ukraine in Barcelona lamented “the impact that the bombings have on the lives of its inhabitants and especially on children” and stressed that “being almost 3,000 kilometers from the war, children will be able to rest from the war without interruptions of electricity”. Vorobyov also thanked the military training that Ukrainian volunteers have received from members of the army in Catalonia.
ORIGIN ‘PEACE HOLIDAYS’
The Government Delegation contacted the Spanish Embassy in Kiev to communicate the idea of the project and looked for collaborators who would like to join the initiative in solidarity and completely voluntarily. Thus, in the first place, Pineda de Mar, Salou and Calella de Mar were asked for their collaboration to accommodate the group of boys and girls and three hotels were sought: the Pineda Splash hotel, the Salou Pacific Apartments hotel and the Colibrí Calella Hotel.
The calendar of activities has been designed together with departments of childhood and education of municipalities involved, as well as the consistory of Barcelona where several visits and excursions have been organized.
For trips, RENFE has been contacted for short trips and with the Moventia group for transfers to hotels and to make visits. TMB has also collaborated. The company Vueling has been in charge of the journey between countries. In addition, for meals, the hotel group Aqua Hotels has taken care of the days when children do not stay to eat in the hotels where they are staying and the group Nocilla has contributed the snacks.
On the other hand, despite the fact that the parents of the children have assured that the children do not need psychological assistance, the Government Delegation through the Barcelona City Council, has the collaboration of a psychologist from the Sant Pere Claver Foundation --a private non-profit and social economy organization that offers public services through a team of 800 professionals and who have Ukrainian staff between their groups-- to have an eventual attention if necessary, with a professional of Ukrainian origin. In addition, the Dalmases Pharmacy has collaborated with sun creams, the Grogues Panteres with sports clothes and Albora Technologies with ‘Peace Holidays’ t-shirts.
PEACE HOLIDAYS
The first edition of the ‘Peace Holidays’ is held from April 26 to May 17 with activities organized by municipalities and hotels in Pineda de Mar, Salou and Calella de Mar. There are also several excursions organized to Barcelona with the visit to emblematic modernist spaces such as the temple of the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, but also to the Museu de la Ciència - CosmoCaixa, the Montjuïc Cable Car, the Barcelona Zoo and the Montjuïc Castle. In addition, children will be able to enjoy a day at an amusement park such as Tibidabo and another in Port Aventura, and they will attend an F.C. match. Barcelona.
The minors will be accompanied at all times by staff of the Government delegation; voluntary translators of the team created by the migratory crisis since the beginning of the War; and monitors and animators of the hotels that have been turned, all of them, to collaborate in this initiative.
Download link of the graphic material about the Ochakiv school-bunker, bombing of the city and activities of the ‘Peace Holidays’:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-51b6_OJaOs3387ZROuvpzQEONzfBEkx?usp=sharing