“Welcome Ukraine”: an event dedicated to Ukraine held in Salerno, Campania, on 29.01.2024

“Welcome Ukraine”: an event dedicated to Ukraine held in Salerno, Campania, on 29.01.2024

The meeting was organised by the “Rotary Club Salerno”, chaired by the architect Umberto Maria Cioffi, as an interclub event with the Rotary Clubs “Salerno Est”, “Salerno Picentia”, “Salerno Duomo”, “Salerno Nord dei Due Principati” and “Rotary Club Cava de’ Tirreni”, under the patronage and with the support of the Municipality of Salerno, the Regional Council of Campania, the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples and the Casa di Cura Tortorella.

The evening opened with the national anthem of Ukraine, whose first words are: “Ukraine’s glory has not yet perished, nor her freedom. Fate will smile on us yet, brother Ukrainians…”. The President of the “Rotary Club Salerno Duomo”, Sabatino Cuozzo, welcomed the guests on behalf of everyone in Italian and English, recalled the many initiatives organised by the “Rotary Club Salerno” and stressed: “We are here tonight to confirm and continue our support for the Ukrainian people.”

The aim of the event was to make Ukraine better known and to tell the story of its history, architecture and science, of the influence of Ukrainian culture on world art, and of the development of its film industry and theatre, even during the full-scale war.

The participants dispelled some of the false myths and stereotypes that Russian propagandists had been telling Italians until now – sadly, before the full-scale war, the world knew almost nothing about Ukraine.

Those present spoke of how deeply the people of Ukraine had impressed them. This freedom-loving, courageous, patriotic and hard-working nation overcomes every hardship fate has dealt it, fights on and dreams of a bright, peaceful future for its children.

The Consul General of Ukraine in Naples, Maksym Kovalenko, thanked the organisers. According to Mr Kovalenko, Ukraine still needs humanitarian, military and financial aid. Addressing the guests, he noted that Ukrainians and Italians share the same values and must stand together: the end of the war depends on all of us Europeans, on the whole democratic world. If Ukraine does not win, there is a risk of seeing all of Europe at war.

A guest at the meeting, Lara Levchun, President of the Coordination Centre of Ukrainian Associations COORDINAMENTO UNITARIO, moved the audience with an emotional speech that drew especially warm applause.

In her speech Lara Levchun spoke about the fate of the Ukrainian people, recalling the first wave of migrants in the 1990s, after perestroika. Thousands of Ukrainians, driven by economic and political circumstances, left to seek a better life abroad. All of them knew the burden of working as migrants, the pain of separation from their families and the difficulty of starting all over again.

Lara Levchun also focused on the plight of wartime refugees: millions of innocent people whose lives have been shattered, frightened and in shock. They had no time to think things over – only a few minutes to make one of the hardest decisions of their lives: to leave their homeland. Successful businesspeople, doctors, teachers and economists fled to Ukraine’s borders with a single suitcase, or with nothing at all, carrying children and pets in their arms.

We are an educated nation: most of us hold a university degree (some even two), and each of us has our own achievements. Yet, arriving in a new country without knowing the language or the laws, everything we had gained before turned out to be “invalid” here. Morally, it is very hard to come to terms with the fact that in your own country you were “someone”, and here you are “no one”.

With particular pride in the Ukrainian people, Lara Levchun closed her speech with these words:

“No ordeal can stand in the way of achieving what we want. Ukrainians are proving once again that nothing is impossible for them. A new home and a new country, however temporary, are just one more chance to show what we are capable of. A nation of the strong and the invincible! We are an unbreakable people!”

The programme included many greetings from members of the “Rotary Club Salerno”, who presented the projects carried out by the Rotary Club Lviv to help the people of Ukraine: first and foremost medical aid, ambulances, mobile first-aid units, power generators, food and other assistance aimed at providing housing for those who lost their homes because of the war.

The round table was moderated by Dr Pasquale Maria Cioffi, an entrepreneur and expert in communication and business development consulting, who founded Confindustria Ukraine in 2018 and created the “Discover Ukraine” project.

Kevin Carboni, a journalist from Ancona who writes for the American magazine Wired, spoke about his project “Walking to Kyiv”: “I walked more than 500 kilometres, starting from the Polish border, to reach Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Twenty-five stages of 20 kilometres each, a long march for peace.”

Professor Carmine Pinto, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Salerno, highlighted the role of Europe and Italy in this war: “Italy is providing very important support. Putin’s Russia is building a great imperial project, which the people of Ukraine have halted by fighting for freedom and independence. Without the defeat of Russia and the affirmation of Ukrainian freedom and independence there will be no peace in Europe.”

Franco Picarone, Chair of the Budget Committee of the Campania Region, recalled that after the Russian invasion two hubs were set up to receive Ukrainian refugees: “In the first months of the conflict we enabled many Ukrainian children to take part in sailing and rowing competitions – we tried to give them a moment of peace. The Campania Region launched a range of solidarity initiatives for the Ukrainian people, because protecting this people means protecting our democracy.”

City councillor Tea Siano, a member of the “Rotary Club Salerno”, shared her memories of the beauty of Lviv: “Its historic centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. We are bound to the Ukrainian community by a shared cultural and humanistic aspiration. The Municipality of Salerno has supported the whole Ukrainian community and stood by its side.”

Professor Alessandro Castagnaro, Professor of the History of Architecture at the University of Naples Federico II and former Governor of Rotary District 2101, spoke about the artistic and cultural ties that have linked Italy and Ukraine for centuries: “Our cultures are kindred – even in Ukrainian architecture you can feel the influence of the Italian architectural style. Many of these works have been badly damaged or destroyed.”

Dr Francesco Caggiano, Chair of the International Projects Committee of the “Rotary Club Salerno”, explained the aims of the project: “We want Italian and Ukrainian cultures, which have so much in common, to become better integrated. Ukraine is a beautiful land, with cities rich in art and culture and universities of the highest calibre that have educated many brilliant young people who are now becoming part of our community.”

Dr Yaryna Pyliukh, a physician who has lived and worked in Salerno for twenty years, explained that she helps many Ukrainians integrate into the Salerno community: “Of course, Italians can do the same in Ukraine without fear, because in Ukraine people go on living, working and creating – we can do this together, for the sake of peace as well.”

To close the evening, the theatre director and actor Andrea Carraro gave a moving reading of the “Letter of Hope”, written by Dr Yaryna Pyliukh’s nephew before he left for the front. Knowing that he was about to become a father, the author writes to his aunt: “If anything happens to me… promise me that my daughter will see Ukraine through the same eyes I have always seen it with, the way her dad always saw it.”

Everyone present was moved by the emotional videos made by Nazarii Vasyliuk, a computer science student from Lviv, whom the Rotary presidents awarded a “Peace Grant” so that he can continue telling Ukraine’s story through his videos.