Annual meeting of the KALYNA Foundation Council at our office
The world can be changed in many ways and with many tools. Through business and participation in international projects, or by supporting initiatives that aim to have a global impact. Through culture, literature and the arts. But above all, through consistent actions that effectively break down barriers, forge friendships and relationships. And build bridges that will allow for a lasting understanding between present and future generations.
And for these reasons it has become a tradition for the Council of the “KALYNA” Polish-Ukrainian-Canadian Scholarship Foundation to meet in our offices every year at the beginning of the summer holidays. We have been a partner and patron of this initiative since its inception, firmly believing in the mission of its founders, which is to actively support those who persistently seek ways to rebuild strong Polish-Ukrainian relations.
For more than four years, KALYNA has been assisting scholars and artists working on difficult Polish-Ukrainian issues, as well as helping provide children of Ukrainian soldiers who were killed or seriously injured defending their country with the opportunity to study in Poland.
And because the Foundation has done this efficiently, methodically and persistently, the effects of its work are already quite visible.
KALYNA Foundation has ambitious plans for 2024
The Foundation’s Council, consisting of Prof Andrzej Friszke, Prof Tomasz Stryjek, Janina Kuźma, Ewa Pocztar, Rev Artur Graban, Adam Stec and Piotr Kochański, reviewed the progress of the youngest scholarship recipients, students from several Polish universities: Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, the AGH University of Krakow, Jagiellonian University and the Vistula University in Warsaw.
Natalia, Vitalij, Renat and Sofija are able to study their dream subjects – sociology, mechatronics, political science and graphic design – thanks to the Foundation’s support. And although, like many students, they face problems, they are brave enough to tackle them.
I am a firm believer in the change that comes with a new generation, says Piotr Kochański, Managing Partner.
Especially when this generation has the chance to study and experience life far from home and to tackle the problems of academic life on their own. And I say this from my own successful experience. However, I am also aware that despite their young age, the students supported by KALYNA have already had to face unimaginable hardships and challenges that we have not experienced in our part of Europe. That is why I will be the first to say that a missed session or a resit exam are just small, insignificant obstacles that can be easily overcome on the way to the goal. And our common goal is to change the world for the better, he adds with conviction.
Last year, KALYNA research and development grants resulted in the monograph Saharynia’44 by Dr Mariusz Sawa, which is about to be published.
The same grants also contributed to two collections of essays as part of the “Poland and Ukraine: Past and Future” project, authored by Nadia Koval from Kyiv and Adam Balcer from Warsaw. Both works will soon be translated into Polish and Ukrainian and put into print.
Despite the ongoing war, KALYNA’s representatives have remained steadfast in their mission. What’s more, they are convinced that now is the right time to take further initiatives.
That’s why their plans and tasks for 2024 include extending the scholarship programme to more people and new publications, as well as establishing cooperation with Polish companies and discussing paid internship programmes for young Ukrainians. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
You can read more about the Foundation and our philosophy of supporting such initiatives here.
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