Japanese philanthropist hands over gifts to newspapers he helped to revive

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) has sent parcels containing surprises from the head of the Japan Offspring Fund, Junichi Kowaka, to 15 newsrooms.

The abovementioned publications are newspapers from front-line and de-occupied territories, which, with the support of the Fund, resumed publishing after a forced break due to the war. The Fund notes that the gifts are “a sign of attention.”

The editor-in-chief of the Vpered newspaper (Bakhmut), Svitlana Ovcharenko, has already received the parcel.

“When I received a message that a parcel from Kyiv from the NUJU was waiting for me at Nova Poshta, I thought it was some documents. At first, I was surprised when they gave me a real parcel at the post office, and then I was glad to see everything when I unpacked this parcel,” Svitlana wrote on the social network. “It turned out that this is a kind of greeting from Tokyo, from the head of the Japan Offspring Fund, a true great friend of Ukraine and Ukrainian journalists, Mr. Junichi Kowaka… This time, the benefactor personally sent souvenirs and nice gifts to our newsroom, thus again proving his support. He wanted to bring small moments of joy into our lives. And Mr. Kowaka succeeded.”

Svitlana Ovcharenko writes that she was very touched by the cute little things carefully collected for Ukrainian journalists: watches, pens, calculators, flashlights, key rings, cosmetic bags, necklaces, hair ornaments, tea, and even sweaters… “It’s very touching,” added Svitlana.

Due to the touch hostilities in Bakhmut, the newsroom of the Forward newspaper is under evacuation and works remotely. The staff currently live in different cities. The Russian invaders deprived the workers of the publishing house and everything they had.

As earlier reported, the revival of print media in the de-occupied and near-front territories, where there is often no Internet and mobile communication, is among the priorities of the NUJU. So far, with the help of international financial donors, it has been possible to finance the publication of at least one (as a rule, the first issue after a long break) of 25 local newspapers in cities adjacent to the front line.

NUJU Information Service