You're reading: Ukrainians fight back against bad reputation with ‘friendly’ initiative

Ukrainians are fighting back against the bad press in Europe ahead of Euro 2012 by forming groups offering help to foreigners visiting Ukraine for the tournament.

After a torrent of criticism over racism, high hotel prices and poor infrastructure in recent weeks, Ukrainians have got together to offer free accommodation, interpreting and transport services to visiting fans.

Maksym Prodan, a human resources manager in Kyiv, said he decided that “there’s a need to change something” after he saw on television that foreign fans were choosing not to come to Ukraine for the championship.

So he turned to the idea of offering free accommodation on his www.rooms4free.org.ua website.

This was the start of the Friendly Ukraine public campaign aimed at breaking the stereotypes about the country and showing Ukrainians as a hospitable nation.

Prodan’s efforts have already helped find places for 400 fans to stay.

Elfa Bjork Sigurjonsdottir is one of them. She came from Iceland to work as volunteer in Lviv. As a diehard football fan she bought a ticket for one a quarterfinal match in Kyiv, without knowing where to stay there.

Now she has two free options of where to stay and is considering which one to choose.

“I think the idea is wonderful and very much in the spirit of the friendly welcome I have received here,” she said about the Friendly Ukraine initiative.

Prodan said that some of the hundreds of Ukrainians who post their advertisements on his website do it not only out of plain over generosity but also to practice foreign languages and make new friends.

“Euro 2012 is a good opportunity for us to become more open, to learn another culture, which is always interesting, and also to show the guests that there is hospitality in Ukraine,” said Nadiya Gavrylova, who is planning to host foreign guests from Germany, the Netherlands and Austria in Kharkiv.

Gavrylova has already designed several tourist routes through Kharkiv, and also plans to treat her guests to some traditional Ukrainian dishes.

People who are unable to offer accommodation have found plenty of other ways to help.

Sergey Uzlov, an engineer from Donetsk, posted his mobile number on the free hotline service on www.2012well.com.ua website, another part of the Friendly Ukraine initiative.

This hotline allows the foreigners to call one of the available numbers and ask some advice in their own language.

Uzlov said he wants to practice his English this way and he would be glad to guide the foreign fans in Donetsk on foot or to drive them with his own car.

This hotline already includes 75 cell numbers, offering help in English, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish and even Arabic.

Another 45 people have already expressed the will to transfer foreign supporters for free, according Viktoria Svitlova, a journalist and the coordinator of Friendly Ukraine.

If Ukraine fails to integrate into the European Union, it doesn’t mean people can’t integrate Europe individually –

Viktoria Svitlova, a journalist and the coordinator of Friendly Ukraine


There are a number of other offers of help available on the website: from guided pub tours to free use of office equipment, medical treatment and even invitations for lunch.

Another initiative is I Can Help U (www.Icanhelpu.com.ua), which is collecting volunteers to appear in popular public areas wearing a special badge or T-shirt and give advice for foreigners in English.

“We offer linguistic help to the foreigners,” said Dmytro Vasilyev, a businessman, blogger and author of this idea. “When [foreigners] come here they get trapped in so-called Slavic jungles, where everything is written in Cyrillic letters and very few people speak English.”

Svitlova say she regrets that Friendly Ukraine was launched only in April, as if started half a year ago it could have attracted more volunteers.

Meanwhile, the idea has already received material support from local business and foreign donors, including American-Hungarian philanthropist George Soros’s Renaissance Foundation.

Other efforts beside Friendly Ukraine have also sprung up. Fun for Fan (http://funforfan.eu/) offers free lodging and entertainment for Euro 2012 fans. Others are offering free tours of Kyiv.

The Friendly Ukraine activists say all these services are not rivals but associates, as they want to bring Ukrainians closer to Europe, even if their government is moving another direction.

“If Ukraine fails to integrate into the European Union, it doesn’t mean people can’t integrate Europe individually,” Svitlova said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]