Dutch Guests Once Again Visited Ostroh Academy

April 01, 2016

What is motivation? What is a team? How to raise funds and implement one’s own project using the experience of Dutch people as an example? Why is it important not to give up and follow your dream? These were the topics that the students of Ostroh Academy discussed together with the guests from a Dutch university among which there were Jaap De Mooij, the manager of Foundation Oekroe, and Arie Vletter, the manager of Gebr. Vletter & Den Haan. The event, organized by JLab and Resource Center for the Sustainable Development of Ostroh Academy, took place on the 30th and 31st of March.

The speakers told students about the work of charity organizations in Netherlands, and how their activity is regulated at the legislative level. They also spoke about how flowers are grown and exported to Ukraine, how projects are implemented with the help of active citizens, and fundraising in Netherlands. The importance of the event is evident, given the fact that the forthcoming referendum (6th of April) about the support of Ukrainian integration in EU was discussed. English was a working language. The event was targeted at the international and intercultural exchange of experiences between the countries.

It is important to share experience, either positive or negative, when one is working in partnership. The cases our guests from Netherlands talked about, serve as vivid examples that shared projects, activities and events should be carefully prepared. Moreover, it is important to create a network of contacts in the country of residence. «An open discussion format is significant in terms of developing speaking foreign language skills and overcoming communicative barriers,»

Here are main notes of the two-day discussion at the seminar:

— If you have a dream, don’t allow other people to disturb it!

— Try to have fun in everything you do.

— If you want to do something, do it together.

— The woman is the most important person in the World.

— I can learn more from Ukrainian people than I can learn from myself. © Jaap de Mooij

— Use your mind, do it!

— You can have a bright future, but you have to work hard!

The lecturers put great emphasis on the support for Ukraine, and they have already visited a lot of cities: Odesa, Khmelnytskyi, Mukachevo, Rivne, the Carpathians, Lviv, Bila Tserkva, the Crimean peninsula.

Alina Maksymchuk, a student of the group D-31 of the political and informational management department, shares her impressions:

«Each person has his or her own ideas about beauty. ‘To live, one needs sun, freedom and a small flower,’ said the famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Honestly speaking, when I was on my way to the Academy this morning, I could not even imagine that I would experience a weird happiness of admiring flowers and meeting representatives of Gebr.Vletter & Den Haan company, which has been holding the top position in the sphere of breeding new varieties of lilies for many years. I was impressed how talented and hard-working these people are. This meeting enriched me with knowledge, emotions and abroad employment opportunities».

Speakers did not stay aside and told about their impressions of Ostroh Academy:

«Look at our happy faces! Hope, we`ll come to the Ostrog Academy again!».