Polish and Ukrainian youth with hearing impairments meet in Opole

A collaborative project titled ‘Youth in Dialogue of Cultures – Actively, Together, Without Exclusion’ has brought together 35 children and young people from the Opole region of Poland and the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast of Ukraine.

All participants share a hearing impairment, making the program a unique opportunity to practice communication without barriers. The initiative includes workshops, excursions, and artistic activities designed to engage visual and manual skills. Because Polish and Ukrainian sign languages differ, participants are also learning new ways to communicate with one another.

Organized by the ‘Piastun’ Foundation for Children and Youth, the group recently visited the Marshal's Office of the Opole Voivodeship. Vice-Marshal Zuzanna Donath-Kasiura welcomed the participants, noting the importance of such multicultural projects and providing a peaceful environment for the Ukrainian youth to develop away from the realities of war.