On the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, cyborg veteran Oleksandr Tereshchenko announced a social project “I did, so can YOU” aimed at strengthening the ability of veterans who lost limbs defending Ukraine to adapt to social life. The project involves the creation and distribution of training videos, manuals, and podcasts. These resources will provide practical advice on how to achieve everyday independence after becoming disabled.

For 11 years now, we have been fighting a desperate and bloody war for Ukraine’s independence. During this time, tens of thousands of our defenders have lost limbs or acquired other severe health disorders and are forced to learn to live in new realities. This is a difficult and long journey, which is full of self-doubt, despair, and obsessive thoughts about whether it is worth continuing to travel this world.

To accelerate the process of social adaptation of female and male veterans with amputations, the project team will produce 12 training videos and printed manuals for them during the year.

VIDEO – https://youtu.be/YOBrsjax9Dg?si=fCe_hQPY1_8sfh_D

These are not motivational videos about success stories in the form of stunning, post-traumatic growth. These are daily tips on how to become independent in everyday life again, step by step, after becoming disabled. Advice from veterans who have managed to return to full life after severe injuries and decided to share their experience.

We invite veterans with amputations who want to share their experience and life hacks with others to help them simplify their lives, to fill out a Google form and the project team will contact you – https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSej8QdI9Q1CHh…/viewform 

In addition to the videos, the project team is also launching a podcast on the topic of returning to a full life after becoming disabled. The podcast will discuss the problems of social adaptation in more detail, based on the experience of both those who have already gone through this path and those who are taking only the first steps.

Follow the project news on social media and subscribe to them:

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@IcouldandYOUcan  

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CF.Tereshchenko.O 

TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@icouldandyoucan  

The project “I did, so can YOU” is implemented by the Oleksandr Tereshchenko International Charitable Foundation with the support the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy to Ukraine. The views and opinions expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Government.

The project is implemented by the Oleksandr Tereshchenko International Charitable Foundation in cooperation with the NGO Community Self-Help, docUA Platform, NGO NEWDONBAS, East Media Center Consortium of the Veteran Organization of the East and Mas Agency, a digital communication agency.

Our seventh rehabilitation and recovery camp for veterans who have lost their eyesight has come to an end. For the first time, it was held in Chernivtsi from August 5 to 26. This stage was a serious challenge for the project participants. They had to take care of their daily lives on their own, navigate an unfamiliar city, make purchases, and communicate with a large number of people. Unfortunately, ordinary people did not always want to, and sometimes simply did not know how to help a blind person. However, this only confirmed the correctness of our path to expand the geography of such camps. Helping veterans who lost their sight while defending Ukraine to become independent, we simultaneously create a favorable environment for their adaptation. This is a difficult path that will not yield immediate results, but there is no other way. We will persevere, together with you and thanks to you. To everyone who trusts us by supporting this extremely important project. We hope that our unbreakable defenders have taken another step towards an independent, full life and will not stop there. We will continue to persistently prove that #Life_after_war_must_continue.

The camp was made possible thanks to the project’s permanent partner, Contemporary View organization, Partnerschaftsaktion Ost im Bistum Magdeburg, the organization “Johnny and Friends”, and donations from many private benefactors.

On October 23, 2023, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed in Kyiv between the Ukrainian Documentary Platform (docUA Platform) Ukraine and the Oleksandr Tereshchenko International Charitable Foundation (Oleksandro Tereshchenko labdaros ir paramos fondas) Lithuania. From now on, the parties will create media products about the Life After War project for the social rehabilitation of Ukrainian veterans and promote the dissemination of information about the project and its implementation on their own information resources.

The Life After War project is a unique social rehabilitation program for veterans of the russian-Ukrainian war who lost their sight while defending Ukraine. It is a combination of individual and group sessions and a comprehensive approach to rehabilitation based on the principle of “peer-to-peer”. 75% of the trainers have partial or complete sight loss, and simultaneously work on the rehabilitation of veterans and their families. The rehabilitation program includes physical therapy; massage and physiotherapy; psychological support; spatial orientation with a cane; occupational therapy – social life; non-visual accessibility of smartphones and apps, navigation; computer literacy; Nordic walking, tourism; legal advice; rules for accompanying the blind, home arrangement, communication and comfortable interaction; support and guidance from a mentor; practical training of the acquired skills in the city.

The first media product has already been created and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/wMkd11wxZv0?si=3b7NA8-IkaLPOB8w.

The Memorandum was signed by the Foundation’s head Oleksandr Tereshchenko, and by the Platform’s producer and filmmaker Larysa Pokalchuk.

#Life_after_the_war_must_go_on

From September 4 to 18, another rehabilitation camp “Life after the war” for veterans who lost their sight took place on the basis of the Western rehabilitation and sports center of NKSIU, already the third this year. In the middle of the magical Carpathian landscapes, seven indomitable defenders of Ukraine began their journey back to an active, maximally independent life. Another two underwent rehabilitation again to consolidate previously acquired skills.
A team of experienced trainers, from the “Contemporary view” foundation most of whom have significant visual impairments, selflessly taught the boys to navigate in space, restore social interaction skills and household independence, master the phone and computer with the help of screen access programs, Braille, etc. In order to restore motor activity, the rehabilitation program included daily morning exercise, massage, Nordic walking, football, classes in the gym and recovery and rehabilitation halls.
Members of their families received psychological support, theoretical knowledge and practical skills regarding the rules of accompanying the blind, household services and legal advice.
This time, a veteran who, along with vision loss, has an upper and lower limb amputation, underwent rehabilitation for the first time. This was a serious challenge for the coaching staff, because there is no experience and methods of working with such cases in Ukraine. However, 27-year-old Andriy from Ivano-Frankivsk, with his perseverance and crazy motivation, proved to everyone around him that lack of experience is no reason to back down from your goal. By the way, the doctors continue to fight to restore Andrey’s sight and we are sincerely rooting for it to happen as soon as possible.
After the end of the rehabilitation camp, the work with the project participants will continue. Trips of a multidisciplinary team of trainers to the veterans’ residences are already planned. This is necessary to help them apply the acquired skills in everyday life and improve them every day.