Minnesota nonprofit hosts Ukrainian teens for leadership program amid war
OAKDALE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Sixteen Ukrainian teenagers are in Minnesota for a four-week leadership summit, as local nonprofit Global Synergy Group hopes to shape future leaders who will one day rebuild the war-torn country.
Background
This is the third group to travel to Minnesota since the war started two and a half years ago, and many come from communities on the frontline. Organizers say the trip is a well-needed break from the atrocities of war and an opportunity to learn about business and democracy.
"We want to make sure we provide opportunities for them to see democracy in action so that when the war is over…people in Ukraine will have a different vision of what the rebuilding would look like," said Global Synergy Group co-founder Irina Fursman.
The visit
During their visit, the group met with local business leaders, government organizations, and even the Bloomington Fire Department. Fursman says all of those experiences are lessons in how to rebuild Ukraine when the war is over.
"When I think of teenagers, I think of an opportunity to shape their worldview. I think of an opportunity to help them become the leaders that they are passionate about becoming but don’t have the tools and skills quite yet," she said.
Participants like 16-year-old Anna Gorb say life in Ukraine is very difficult as they only have electricity for a few hours a day and hear missiles overhead almost daily. Another participant said his school was destroyed by an airstrike, so like many Ukrainian youths, he is completing high school online.
"America is different from Ukraine, but we can get a lot of knowledge from here and bring it to Ukraine," she said. "We hope for the better because it's our country, and we need to fight for it."
On Tuesday, the group visited the Protez Foundation in Oakdale, where wounded Ukrainian soldiers are flown to Minnesota to be fitted for prosthetics. Since its conception two years ago, the organization has treated around 300 patients and opened two prosthetic offices in Ukraine. Founder Yakov Gradinar says the experience allowed the teenagers a safe place to connect with wounded veterans and learn about how they could help.
"The main goal for me was to introduce them in calm, warm, environment, comfortable that they can make a connection with veterans not in a stressful way," he said. "Also, to see the price of freedom is big. They need to value it and make it better when they go back."
The teens say they will be returning to Ukraine with a lot of new knowledge that they are excited to share, as they say the visit has renewed their hope for a positive future.
"We can say we want to change it, and maybe someone will hear it, and something will be changed," said Gorb.