The Ukrainian Teenagers Saturday Club provides a friendly and safe space for teenagers from Ukraine to come together, make new friends, and feel part of a community. The club is run by Volunteer Centre Sutton as part of our ongoing Ukraine Support project.
The session kicked off with some warm up games, followed by a short presentation given by the Hong Kong teenagers about Hong Kong culture, including British Colonial Influences such as Hong Kong’s famous milk tea! They also talked about the best tourist attractions in Hong Kong, Hong Kong street food, festivals and celebrations, and a few words of Cantonese!
Hi! / Hello! = 你好 (nei5 hou2)
Our Ukrainian teenagers shared many fascinating facts about Ukraine, as well as its beauty and history. And because its never too early to talk about Christmas, we learnt that “Carol of the Bells” actually has Ukrainian origins. “Shchedryk” was arranged by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych at the beginning of the 20th century and is based on the traditional Ukrainian folk chant welcoming the New Year (“shchedrivka”). Watch Щедрик here.
Shchedryk / Щедрик. Carol of the Bells.
We tried out a wide selection of snacks from both cultures, many home-made by our adult volunteers, including lemon tea, egg rolls, spring rolls and sunflower seed halva.
Then to round the afternoon off, we took “instant” photos for the whole group to take home as a memento.
It was an afternoon of fun and surprises bringing together young people from two very different cultures, who found that they had far more in common as teenagers than they had realised.
A huge thank you to our Ukrainian teenagers, and to Anna and Iryna, our Ukrainian Teenagers Saturday Club leaders, for hosting and for making the Hong Kongers feel so welcome. And a huge thank you to our Hong Kong teenagers and older adults for coming along. And thank you to everyone who made this such a special afternoon.
"The meeting between Ukrainian and Hong Kong teenagers was a great success! The participants enjoyed learning about each other's cultures, and everyone was excited to make new friends. The children discovered many new things and were thrilled to get to know each other. Thank you so much for the wonderful idea and excellent organization — it truly made this gathering memorable for everyone involved." Iryna, Ukrainian Teenagers Saturday Club Leader
If you would like to find out more about our Ukraine Support project, please contact our Ukraine Support Project Coordinator, Nataliya Semchyshyn at nataliyasemchyshyn@vcsutton.org.uk.
If you would like to find out more about becoming a Young Commissioner, please get in touch with the Young Commissioner coordinator by emailing youngcommissioners@vcsutton.org.uk. You can also give us your details here and one of the team will be in touch soon.
