An island of peace during war

Unfortunately, everything that happens in Ukraine is directly reflected not only on us, adults, but also on our children. And even if the family lives far from direct hostilities, it does not mean that the children are isolated from the sinister effects of war and human tragedies. The difficult psychological background of a warring country, a large amount of information that is cruel and unnecessary for children's perception, fear of another air raid – this is the atmosphere in which our children have to live. This especially affects city dwellers. Teenagers are constantly forced to stay in an atmosphere saturated with cruelty. We will have to realize the consequences of this in the future.

In such a situation, the "Hope and believe" foundation has been running a humanitarian program for over a year, the main task of which is to distract teenagers from the existing realities of our lives and give them the opportunity to find peace in creative work. The program was implemented in the form of a studio-workshop, where teenagers can touch the wonderful world of creating mosaic images from individual pieces of wood veneer and acquire creative work skills.

The basis for teaching children is the successfully operating Woodins creative workshop of wooden decor, where adult specialists use and improve the medieval technology of "marquetry" in relation to the realities and possibilities of modern equipment. One of the reasons for the use of technology in social work with children is the incredible influence that natural wood and its objects have on a person. Craftsmen know how attractive the smell of processed wood in the workshop is, how pleasant tactile sensations are from touching such objects. All this perfectly intertwines in the fibers of the material structure, allowing you to create unique and unique designs. The very touch of creating decorative items from wood already has a beneficial effect on the child's psyche, setting it up for calm and peaceful work.

The interest and satisfaction that the master feels while working on the panel led us to the idea of involving children in this creative work. In the process of making mosaic panels, many technological operations are used, many of which are completely within the power of a teenager. This is elementary work with graphic editors, and the process of cutting veneer on a laser machine, and the most interesting thing in the whole process is the assembly of individual mosaic elements into a single image. Assembling a set of veneers is in some ways similar to assembling a picture from a jigsaw puzzle, only much more difficult.

A year ago, we held the first master classes and immediately recruited 10 students. Six of them are still engaged in creating mosaics. Several guys joined the studio during the year. The boys were very interested, and we could easily train another 20-30 people. But we are limited in our possibilities. In addition to the studio, where it is necessary to conduct training, this activity requires costs for equipment, the veneer itself, costs for its cutting and considerable costs for further processing of the panels. Our foundation cannot develop this activity on its own. We really hope that there will be people willing to support our endeavor and help with the purchase of wood veneer, consumables for the equipment, and other necessary items – this is what we are raising funds for on dobro.ua.