Ukraine hosts hiking tours to help soldiers heal
Учасники першого походу проєкту tuReCOVERY з групою підтримки
Rubryka reveals the newest initiative for Ukrainian soldiers, and announces next planned hikes.
What is the problem?
Soldiers returning from war or recovering from injuries need comprehensive rehabilitation and emotional recovery.
Not only medical care, but also the opportunity to live fully in society, to feel fulfilled and needed, is vital for them.
What is the solution?
The long recovery path for soldiers and veterans can be effective through travel.
The Ivano-Frankivsk-based travel company TURE launched the tuReCOVERY social project. Once a month, Ukrainian soldiers will travel in the mountains, raft down rivers, and visit caves for free.
How does it work?
"Our goal is to ensure the physical and psychological recovery of military personnel and war veterans by involving them in active recreation," the company says.
"For this season, we have planned a series of specially designed trips for our soldiers with a frequency of once a month."
Participants of the first tuReCOVERY project hike with a support group
The tuReCOVERY project started on March 4 with a climb to Hoverla.
As there is still snow in the mountains, and winter climbing is not easy, the organizers selected those who had previous experience of winter travel and appropriate clothing and equipment.
The team themselves wanted to first gain experience in conducting this type of travel, and only then scale up.
Vitaliy, one of the first participants, is a soldier who sustained multiple polytrauma injuries during the fighting in the first year of the war. He has already recovered and is now returning to military service.
Yurii is a sapper who lost his leg in August 2023 on the Dnipro islands when he hit a mine. However, in December, he was fitted with a prosthesis, and at the end of January, he began to walk without crutches. He wanted to test himself before that, so he went to the winter mountains.
Soldier Yurii hiking near Hoverla
The trial hike was held as announced by the organizers of tuReCOVERY.
Climbing Hoverla on the first day, and rafting on the Cheremosh River on the second.
Before rafting
The TURE chief adds that travel and outdoor activities for the military are necessary and important not only during the war, but also afterwards.
"This is an opportunity for the guys and girls who were at the front or were wounded to feel that the door to a normal, full life is not closed to them. To understand that even in cases of amputations, you can basically do everything you did before. Especially if we take into account that modern technologies, such as prosthetics, are progressing every year. Besides, such trips are a kind of mental reboot. Even if you are just let go on vacation. Because in cities, you usually can't relax like that – there's too much noise, too many people, while in the mountains everything is completely different. And it's also good to be alone for a while," said Volodymyr Horon.
