Several Danish citizens are devoting a substantial part of their lives to making a difference in Ukraine.
This small community that probably numbers less than 100 in Ukraine is involved in diverse fields, including diplomacy, journalism, information technology and conflict resolution. But what binds these citizens of Denmark together is a strong desire to contribute to the development of a country they love with the special Danish way of doing things.
Carl Plesner
Carl Plesner is a 41-year-old Dane who came to Ukraine precisely on Feb. 11, 2014–11 days before the EuroMaidan Revolution drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power.
A woman named Olena Hantsyak-Kaskiv told the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church that her nongovernmental organization of activists needed support and expertise in non-violent resistance. At the time, she was part of a group Initiative E+ created during the revolution to promote social change. Now she is married to Plesner.
As a certified trainer in non-violent communication who worked with the Danish police for five years, Plesner answered the call and headed immediately for Kyiv.
After the revolution, the couple founded a non-governmental organization called Dignity Space, which focuses on “helping people recover and reconcile after conflicts.” To do this, Plesner said that he “transforms violent language into non-violent language.”
He admires the resilience of Ukrainians in the face of suffering and hardship.
“Ukrainians are faced with so much difficulty, yet they work so hard,” Plesner said. “When I go back home, I can get angry at ordinary Danish citizens complaining about small things.”
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Jesper Lindholt
In Ukraine for 12 years, Jesper Lindholt is a 52-year-old economist who was first introduced to the country in 1995 when he started to work in Zaporizhia for the European Union’s Technical Assistance to the Common Wealth of Independent States (TACIS) program.
Lindholt works in the information technology industry now and built his own IT company, Livatek, five years ago in mid‑2013 as a broker of services between foreign companies and Ukrainian ones.
Lindholt said business is recovering again from the recessions triggered by corruption, the revolution and the start of Russia’s war in 2014. Livatek has doubled its revenues during the last two years, to 2 million euros yearly.
Lindholt is also involved in charity.
He has helped bring 40 used four-wheel-drive cars from Denmark to the eastern war front to use as ambulances — involving both friends and relatives to drive them over.
Livatek’s CEO is also working on another charity project in cooperation with the Rotary Club and Initiative E+ to buy 600 computers from German military auctions. The computers are then sent to 60 schools near the war front.
A computer training camp was already organized in the Carpathian Mountains, where 60 kids from these schools were taught how to use Linux.
“I am happy to have a company where we have a social dimension,” Lindholdt said. “You do not need to leave your heart at home.”
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Ove Urup-Madsen
Ove Urup-Madsen, 61, has been an active-duty officer of the Danish air force for 40 years. It was in this context that he was sent to Ukraine by the NATO alliance four years ago.
Now the manager of the NATO Professional Development Program that trains Ukrainian public and civil servants from several ministries and departments, Urup-Madsen started getting involved in Ukraine 12 years ago.
In 2007, the Danish officer instigated a project dubbed Northern Falcon — a military cooperative mission between Denmark and Ukraine. The mission’s purpose was to use Ukrainian IL‑76MD military aircraft to transport food, equipment, and fuel from the U. S. Thule Air Base to the Nord Danish polar station in Greenland.
His goal now is trying to teach cross-institutional cooperation through “theoretical and interactive trainings where people work towards common goals like leadership and management.”
Even though his contract will end in December, Urup-Madsen hopes to stay for another two years in order to keep training more people and keep the momentum of his work going so that one day Ukraine might be up to date with Western administrative standards.
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Peter Erben
Peter Erben is a 41-year-old senior global electoral adviser at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems who has been living in Ukraine for three and half years.
He and his Ukrainian wife — whom he married many years ago — agreed after the EuroMaidan Revolution ended five years ago “that this was a period of great hope for Ukraine to move forward and enter Europe,” he said. This is why the couple wished “to make a small contribution” toward Ukraine’s future.
As one of the few international leading authorities called upon to direct and monitor national elections for other nations, Erben’s work in Ukraine includes training electoral management bodies as well as supporting civil society activism and strengthening civic engagement.
IFES trainings reached more than 117,750 election commissioners nationwide ahead of the October 2014 parliamentary elections and the October 2015 local elections.
Erben’s work is also crucial before the upcoming presidential election on March 31 and parliamentary one in October.
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Michael Andersen
Michael Andersen is a 54-year-old political science professor turned journalist who lives between Ukraine and his native Denmark, films documentaries and has been running several media projects for the past 20 years.
Andersen first came to Ukraine 20 years ago when he was recruited by billionaire philanthropist George Soros as a university professor to teach in Lviv for a couple of years. He then became the director of a project encompassing Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.
He is currently involved in the building a digital news house for UA: Pershyi public television channel — a project of 7 million euros financed by the European Commission and involving the BBC and Deutsche Welle.
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Johannes Wamberg Andersen
Johannes Wamberg Andersen is a 50-year-old freelance journalist who reports for Western media, monitors human rights, and pushes for better railways around the country.
His arrival in Ukraine in the spring of 1999 to intern at the Danish Embassy was a revelation.
He “discovered Ukraine to be a pivot country in between the West and Russia… there was a sense of hope and diversity in the air.”
He marveled at how Ukraine’s drive and willpower “produced two major uprisings of revolutionary format in just 10 years.”
Tight-knit community
Ukraine can be a challenging country to live in for Westerners who decide to settle here.
It is, however, according to all Denmark citizens that the Kyiv Post interviewed, a place that inspires novelty and admiration, a place that is easy “to fall in love with” as Urup-Madsen put it.
Andersen called Ukraine “a bomb of energy” from which many countries could learn.
Ukraine is, indeed, undergoing a dramatic transformation from its Soviet legacy to European democracy that many in the West do not appreciate.
This historical shift, driven by a talented youth and passionate hard-working people, makes Erben and his fellow Danes want to be “a tiny part of Ukraine’s European dream.”
The small group of Danes gets together for special occasions, including a traditional mid-summer gathering, when they speak Danish, drink beer, and uphold traditions of their home far away.
One such gathering is at Erben’s residence to celebrate the traditional Danish mid-summer party Sankt Hans Aften, or Saint John’s Eve. The Danish word “hygge” — the art of appreciating what is good in life among relatives and friends — stands at the core of this special celebration. Those attending usually wait once it gets dark outside to gather around a bonfire and sing Danish folk songs.
