Key message: Ukraine’s teenagers are growing up in a nation at war and facing many other challenges. But they are achieving success and dreaming of a better future for the country.
The chance discovery of some old writing has inspired a new book featuring the hopes and dreams of Ukraine’s current younger generation.
Author Oksana Lyachynska came across a story she wrote at the age of 15, and says that spurred her to search for similar stories from today’s teenagers.
The result is a book called “Voices of Ukraine,” a series of interviews with Ukrainians under 18, which was presented at the Kyiv Post’s Tiger Conference at the Intercontinental hotel in Kyiv on Dec. 11.
The teenagers, from all over Ukraine, came from a broad range of backgrounds, but all shared strong motivations, and high aspirations and dreams. The publication of the book, done in cooperation with the Kyiv Post, was carried out under a corporate social responsibility project by car dealer Porsche Ukraine.
According to Lyachynska, words written at a young age can be “a true revelation” later in life, and what Ukraine’s brightest young minds say nowadays can give us an insight all of our futures. And it should be a bright future, as Ukraine’s youth “believe in humanity without war and borders between countries,” says Lyachynska in the foreword to her book.
The book is also intended to motivate and encourage the younger generation now coming of age in Ukraine — especially given the turbulent times the country is currently going through.
“If at some point they should lose heart, this book will inspire them anew,” the Kyiv Post’s commercial director, Alyona Nevmerzhytska, says in her opening remarks in the book.
At the book’s presentation Josef Graf, the CEO of Porsche Ukraine, said that the goal of “Voices of Ukraine” was “to bring the visions of young Ukrainians” to the public discourse during the crisis-ridden times that Ukraine has been going through in recent years.
Lyachynska, a seasoned writer, said during the presentation that she had learned a lot from the young people she interviewed: “This was not only about success, talent, and achievements, but also the values and principles, and pieces of wisdom,” that the young people have passed on to her, she said.
Four of the eighteen young people interviewed for the book spoke at the presentation.
Mykhailo Zhernakov and Iryna Shyba look over “Voices of Ukraine,” a book written by ex-Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Lyachynska, at the Kyiv Post Tiger Conference on Dec. 11. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Roman Fedevych presented his smart greenhouse project, which helps home gardeners raise their plants at a minimum cost. Roman “believes that automation and robots are our future.”
Misha Mykolyshyn has already collaborated with NASA via its competitions in Ukraine and globally. He continues to work with the U.S. space administration, but also runs other professional and volunteer projects. He sees “problems in daily lives and routines” and tries to improve them by applying IT. In the near future he wants Ukraine “to become great in IT” and he sees this “happening right now.” At the same time he criticizes Ukrainian universities for being slow in changing themselves to keep up with the global technological progress.
Daryna Kolmyk is aiming for a political career and is engaged in research, singing, dancing, and public speaking. She says she “wants to be a president.” In twenty years she sees herself “an MP running for the office of president,” and stresses the need for enhanced “economic development of the country.”
Liza Kondratenko wants to fix Ukraine’s show business. She is singing, dancing, and playing piano and speaks three foreign languages at the age of “three days before fourteen.” She is now searching “for her team” to “teach children to follow their dreams.” She also wants to help make Ukrainian show business competitive globally.
The Kyiv Post is distributing the book free on request, through Amazon and other on-line platforms. The book is in Ukrainian and English.
