Through the grassroots group ‘eTwinning Supports Ukraine: community-driven solidarity activities”, eTwinners have joined their voices and rallied in solidarity activities, sending messages of support to those affected and displaying their deep and common belief in humanitarian principles. 

They created a multilingual solidarity word cloud for Ukraine with all the words associated with the notion of solidarity and sent multimodal messages for peace and democracy. Students created drawings, paper cranes, and souvenirs for Ukrainian students, and teachers read Ukrainian folk tales to them to celebrate their customs and traditions. Students wrote letters to their fellow Ukrainian friends expressing their encouragement in creative ways.  

Teachers who are hosting / have hosted refugee students have marked their location on the keep in touch map for Ukrainian student refugees and  the teachers hosting them, exchanging information and ideas.  Ukrainian teachers and eTwinners from all over Europe have added photos and updates about acts of solidarity in Europe and worldwide. 

In early September, an eTwinning event was organised to facilitate the start of the school year for the Ukrainian students who would be hosted in other countries. In the  ‘European Helping Hands to Young Ukrainians’ Padlet, Valentyna Gatalska, a Ukrainian eTwinner, asked teachers across Europe to share their experience teaching Ukrainian school children. She asked what kind of help they might need to actively involve these children in their school and suggested that Ukrainian teachers could offer their insights. A Wakelet was shared for teachers to show their engagement and upload their ongoing work. 

During the eTwinning weeks, on 19 October 2022, the Greek NSO (National Support Organisation), in collaboration with the Cypriot NSO, organised an online event dedicated to inclusion and eTwinning projects that integrated solidarity activities for Ukraine, sharing the activities coordinated by the grassroots group. An expert, Nikos Lekkos, a school advisor in Cyprus, focused on the topic of inclusion and how it can be promoted with eTwinning projects. Two Greek eTwinners, Katerina Kyriakidou and Athanasia Zafeiropoulou, presented the transnational solidarity activities they had implemented in their eTwinning projects.

The eTwinning community collaboratively promotes the mindset to actively engage in society and build inclusive and peaceful democratic communities. Empathy and solidarity are key foundations for peace and are at the heart of education and our eTwinning community.