The projects financed by the Interreg NEXT Poland – Ukraine 2021-2027 Programme have already started their implementation, and we eagerly await their upcoming results.
However, we do not forget about the results and benefits brought by projects from the 2014-2020 Programme edition. We continue to show their achievements and hope that stories of people behind them or benefitting
on them will be inspiring for forthcoming initiatives in the whole Programme area.
We invite you to read!
The whole life of a bee is one teaspoon of honey and a jar is a million bee flights – explains Ms. Urszula
She is not a beekeeper. She has been a teacher for 33 years. She teaches history, civics, entrepreneurship and other subjects, but admits that she learned a lot about bees and beekeeping through the “The Carpathian Bees – our benefactors” project (acronym APIS). This joint Polish-Ukrainian venture has changed her outlook on life. Although she has already worked on about 30 different projects, implementing this one was a special experience for her.
I have learned a lot. It's very developing for a person because these are not easy projects. Crisis management – I would never have believed that I would be caught up in COVID and a war, that it would be difficult to contact someone... I had to learn how to carry out the project in very difficult conditions. People from Ukraine come, they talk about the war and it also changes our view of the world, changes relationships. It gave me a lot – emphasizes Ms. Urszula
The APIS project fortunately started in 2021, even before the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine. This has enabled a lot of work to be done on both sides of the border, despite the pandemic still ongoing – adds Ms. Urszula
The project partners were united by their concern for the “Karpatka”. This name is most often associated with a delicious cake. Few people know that it is also the name of a unique species of mountain bees living in the Carpathians. As befits "highlanders", they are resistant to the harsh climate and know how to use what the Carpathian nature has to offer. However, it is a disappearing species, so beekeeping enthusiasts have taken it upon themselves to save and promote it. In two educational institutions – in Nowosielce near Sanok (PL) and Vyshnia (UA) – Educational, Tourist and Promotional Centers of Carpathian Bees were established, whose task is to promote the common natural heritage, including the brave "Karpatkas", and to disseminate knowledge in the field of beekeeping.
At the Agricultural Education Centre Complex of Schools in Nowosielce, an educational apiary was established, which currently has 10 hives. It also houses a traditional beekeeping log and beekeeping hives. Photovoltaic-powered cameras placed in the hives and an electric scale. The cameras allow the life of the bees to be viewed and the data collected is sent via the internet for analysis. Just scan the QR code to find out the weight of the hive, i.e. how much honey has been produced, the temperature and humidity inside it, and even its height above sea level – this could, for example, help if the hive was "taken care of" by a shaggy gourmand, i.e. a bear.
The project also created a 5-kilometer educational trail with natural objects related to bees and beekeeping. On the route, visitors can see e.g. houses for pollinating insects. At the school in Nowosielce, demonstration plots of melliferous plants were also created, including lavender, thyme, rapeseed, phacelia, evening primrose, dandelion and heather. During the project, the apiary in Nowosielce was visited by almost 10,000 people. For most, it was the first opportunity to see the Carpathian bee.
There are also films presenting the life of bees and the activities of beekeepers. This is important because this is a profession that is already disappearing, but is necessary for sustainable development and biodiversity. All of this has attracted enthusiasts to the school, which had not previously taught beekeeping.
At school, based on this, vocational qualification courses were created, where many people gain beekeeping qualifications. People who come to these courses and pass exams represent various professions, there are doctors, engineers... It is phenomenal that this field of education for adults has developed so much – says Ms. Urszula
Similar activities were also carried out by the Ukrainian partner of the project – the College of Lviv National Agrarian University in Vyshnya. Life made the contacts of the partners from Poland and Ukraine go far beyond the purely project relations:
We simply became friends with these people. Very personal relationships were established. Later, when the war broke out, we organized a collection at school for a generator, and the children of teachers from Ukraine came here, to us, to our school. We looked after them, supported them. And that was the most important thing, that relationships were built – recalls Ms. Urszula
And at the end she adds a teaspoon of honey. She admits that in the process she fulfilled her dream of helping her hometown.
And she adds sentimentally:
I was born in Nowosielce, I live in Nowosielce. Every project that develops my village is important to me, because it will stay there. It is important that someone knows about my village, knows about this community, knows about this nature – this is also a priority for me.
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