For three days, from March 27 to 1, les Petits Frères des Pauvres welcomed Varvara and Victoria from the Starenki Foundation. The Starenki Foundation was created in Ukraine in 2017, it aims, like the Petits Frères des Pauvres, to support isolated elderly people in difficulty. Since the Russian invasion of 2022, the Starenki Foundation has grown rapidly thanks to a great surge of generosity.
Today, the Starenki foundation wishes to grow and evolve in a perennial way. The objective of this meeting for Varvara and Victoria was to understand the organization and the functioning of the Petits Frères des Pauvres in order to be inspired by it. It is important to know that volunteering in Ukraine, as in all post-communist countries, is perceived totally differently than in France. It was therefore particularly enriching for them to discover the system of the Petits Frères des Pauvres which places volunteers at the heart of its project.
On the last day, the international team, accompanied by the Ukrainians, went to visit the volunteer team in Troyes. Warmly welcomed by Nastasia, CDS of the Grand-Est region, we were able to confront Varvara and Victoria with the reality of the field. The two Ukrainians could freely ask all their questions to the volunteers. The theme of this afternoon revolved around volunteering: the functioning of the teams, the different methods and processes to follow, or the limits of action. To conclude this intensive afternoon, the Ukrainian women wanted to interview the volunteers about their experience in the association. An enriching moment for all and a partnership between our two associations which is consolidating despite the war.
Victoria and Nastasia
