THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
The leaders of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), Sergiy Tomilenko and Lina Kushch, constantly maintain international relations with foreign organizations and quite often go abroad on working trips. There, they tell colleagues what and how Ukrainian media workers live. In February 2025, the First Secretary of the NUJU, Lina Kushch, visited a workshop of the European Federation of Journalists on the mental health of journalists. The doll from Zaporizhzhia caused a sensation: participants from 12-13 countries were able to spin the doll spinning top between their palms. That helps to calm down in stressful situations. Representatives of the journalistic unions of Germany and Denmark were simply delighted with the toys.
“Colleagues even offered to sell these products for a donation in favor of Ukrainian journalists and are ready to buy them,” said Lina Kushch.
“The feedback was certainly pleasant and inspired the creativity of the journalists of the Zaporizhzhia Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC). Under the guidance of the craftsmen from the Posmishka non-governmental organization, we made the first batch of 16 spinning top dolls,” says Nataliya Kuzmenko, the coordinator of the JSC. “Before the visit to Zaporizhzhia by the President of the NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko, our main craftswomen, Alla Shamrai and Svitlana Kostiuk, made 35 relaxation dolls together, which will now be able to help our foreign colleagues restore their psychological state and regain mental stability.”
Personally, for Mr. Serhiy, the journalist-puppeteer Alla Shamrai made a unique motanka (a traditional Ukrainian guardian doll) with a deep sacred meaning, which symbolizes our entire country and our professional ties with colleagues from other countries.
TV journalist Nataliya Marenko, who is now an own correspondent of the JSC in Germany (Dresden), also joined in collecting gifts for foreign colleagues. Nataliya is a well-known craftswoman who makes jewelry from various natural materials.
“At the request of the President of the NUJU, I made original souvenirs-amulets in the colors of the national flags for colleagues from Norway, Denmark, and Finland, countries that help Ukrainian journalists in this difficult time. Sergiy Tomilenko plans to meet with them at the nearest international forums,” says Nataliya.
We are grateful to our fellow craftswomen for their significant contribution to the development of international partnerships and friendly relations between Ukrainian and foreign media professionals.
The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, implemented in collaboration with the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO and with the support of the People of Japan. Our primary goal is to assist media professionals working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers are active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. The project is part of UNESCO’s broader efforts to support the Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression in Ukraine.
Call the Zaporizhzhia JSC at 096 277 5352 (Nataliya Kuzmenko and Valentyna Manzhura, coordinators of the Zaporizhzhia JSC). The Center’s address is 15 Sobornyi Avenue.
Nataliya Vadymova
Photo by Yuliya Barysheva
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