Support grieving children and families in Slovakia

Thank you for bringing sunshine to lives of bereaved children and families

For more than 15 years PLAMIENOK´s n.o. mission is to help dying and bereaved children and their families to live more joyfully. We fulfil the wish of dying children to be and live at home. Through different therapeutic activities and projects, we help also bereaved children to overcome pain from the loss of a loved one and rediscover colours of life.

In 2017, we managed to help 34 dying children to spend their last moments of their lives at home. Our professional team of doctors, nurses, social workers and therapists regularly visited these children directly at home, tried to relieve their suffering and create a space where moments of joy could appear. They cared for and accompanied all family members, including parents and healthy siblings.

In our Centre of Grief Therapy, we helped 168 children and 128 adults after the loss of a loved one during individual and group meetings. We organized 2 weekends for 20 bereaved families during which the families could meet other families with a similar destiny, share their memories, feelings, relax and enjoy the moment of joy and fun.

Family S. described their feelings after the weekend:

“When arriving at this wonderful weekend meeting, we all had one thing in common - pain and sadness. But today, after two-three days, all is different. We have more things in common - shared experience of joy, (healing) laughter, dance and a lot of beautiful memories. We know how to understand each other, encourage ourselves but mainly we found out we do not have to be alone for everything and that is important.” Family S.

In 2017, we also started a new therapeutic project: Plamienok drama group for children. Under the supervision of drama therapists, eight bereaved children created an artistic performance “The journey to a land where we are missing someone” and performed in the Slovak National Theatre.

In the last week of July, in the north part of Slovakia, 60 bereaved children took part in the therapeutic camp. It was an extraordinary healing week full of adventures where these children could develop new friendship and get mutual support. Janka, one of the children described her experience of the summer camp this way:

“The camp gave me a lot to my life. It helped me to ease the pain, at least a bit. I like remembering it by looking at the photos from the camp. I would like to thank you for everything you did for me - for the fact you helped me, encouraged me and supported me. I found new friends during the camp, friends with a similar destiny to mine. Before going to the camp, I was hardly smiling but you helped me to be able to stand up and I was leaving the camp with a smile. I would like to re-experience it again. Going to the camp again would help me a lot, it would help me to forget (at least for a while) the pain and sadness. I managed to open my heart to some of you, so you could get me know better. Thank you. I hope we will meet again. I would be happy.”

All our services for children and families are free of charge. We cover all costs for petrol, phones, medications and medical equipment in order to provide home visits of children with life limiting or threatening illness free of charge. We cover all costs in order to organize weekends for bereaved families, the therapeutic camp, individual and group meetings in the Centre of Grief Therapy as well. All our medical, psychological and psychotherapeutic help is free of charge, too.

We are willing and trying to help incurable and grieving children and their families. At the same time, we are open to receive help from our sponsors and donors. Only when we help together, incurable and bereaved children can live more joyfully. Therefore, on behalf of all the families and children in our care, we would like to thank you for every gift. Each gift is a small light of help for the families. Thank you for bringing sunshine to the lives of all children and families we cared for together.

Let´s help them together also in 2018! Thank you!

The summer camp through the other eyes

I wish I could describe all the memories and emotions from the camp. May each one of you experience the precious time we were having there. However other eyes see things differently and I did realize that through the eyes of mine – the eyes of a coordinator of the camp, I see the whole thing in other way than a 6-years old child, than 17 years old girl, than a volunteer who dedicated seven days of his or her life to these children. Your children, our children, children, who have experienced a loss. So let’s open the curtain and the therapeutic camp 2017 called “Like a water” for bereaved children and adolescents, organized by non-governmental organization Plamienok, through the other eyes.

Through the eyes of Lucia, the camp coordinator

I was there from the very beginning, from the creation of the camp theme “Like a water”, from the first planning to all the details, and through packing and traveling. Now it´s real. Here we are, 68 souls together in the huge cottage in Zuberec, a little village in the north of Slovakia, standing in the hall, holding our baggage, waiting for the keys from our rooms.

The accommodation is settled, now we are going to make a big step to enter the world of our camp, the camp called “Like a water”. Walking barefoot we are crossing the golden gate which leads us to the world of ice-cold water flowing near our cottage. Water of a river that will guide us all week long. Water will become a part of us and we will become a part of it too. We are getting to know each other. While discovering the surrounding, children are looking for diaries that will record every day their inner worlds, feelings, memories, dreams…

The best way how to start is nothing else but a welcome drinks that we prepare by ourselves. The drinks full of colors and fruits to cheers to the camp. Right in the moment with the colorful glass in our hands we see the expectations of the others in their eyes: The expectations are omnipresent, you can read them in the eyes of everyone: “maybe I will find a friend, maybe someone, who will understand me, someone to share my experience with, someone to trust but also to have fun, someone …”.

The days flow like water… one day we enter the world of trees, we meet the roots, the trunk, the branches, the leaves and the fruits to let them share their secrets and mysteries with us and to let us understand the importance of each part. Did you know that trees also communicate through their roots and, if some of them is in need, they send a nutrition to each other? Another day we try the art of archery and learn that it is not that easy to hit the target, but that can only challenge us. We don’t  give up. We spend beautiful summer evenings by sitting around the fire under the skies full of thousands stars, singing songs and looking above, trying to invent stories. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes sad but always kind of reflection of ourselves. Early morning we wake up by the sound of the drums that charge us with energy for another day. One of those days we create a statue from clay, which represents ourselves and we draw a river of our lives. Where does it flow? What does it meet on its way?  Children share their pain, sadness, losses… we stand together in round holding our hands. It is always easier to be in this together. We go for a long hike on the mountains top, to join the world of trees. The journey is not that easy, but blackberry sea around gives us breath. We meet small streams, rivers, waterfalls on our way. We create trunk boats with leaf sail and decorations of flowers, and let them go with the flow. The boats float and then become one with the water. This reminds us what it is like to let something go, leave it behind and say goodbye to it. There is much more in these days I can’t even mention. We dance, we sing with a rock band. But what I see everywhere I look is a friendship. What is it like? It is when you like someone unconditionally, when you like their vices, bad moods, even anger…

There could be much more to say but it is never so, as when you live that moment. So this is where it all ends. We say goodbye to each other and I think to myself: “the masterpiece is done.”

Through the eyes of Monika, project manager

Days are full. We didn’t catch our breath after the 16 kilometres high hills hiking, yet another day we do aquarelles in warm water. The summer sun is touching us with its warm fingerprints and whispers the same idea to us all. In a moment we find ourselves barefoot in the ice cold water streaming close to our cottage. The water is so cold that it feels like being punched by a thousand of small needles. Standing there we close our eyes and listen to the water that takes all our pains away. We are here, all alone but all together. Holding our hands we feel the warmness of our hearts. Some of days it may seem that the weather is not good, but that is not true. Rainy days make us even more connected to the strong power of water in the nature. Running barefoot on the soft grass in a green meadow we are looking for secret messages in hidden bottles. This is our transformation, just like the water is being transformed every around us. Just like the water inside us…

Through the eyes of Paula, 17yrs

Twelve youngsters. If you are not involved, the activity might seem like nothing difficult. They are drawing the water of their lives. But when it comes to the explanations of their pictures, it gets dark around, cause all the rivers fall into the black color at the end… people around me speak and I find myself in their stories. What they say, it’s exactly what I hide inside, what I hide from myself. Each one of them have lost someone very close and speaking openly about that is breaking the taboo. We speak and we cry. Right here I realize I can cry, I can share my pain, I can admit that it hurts and keep coming back. This moment is ours, here is our pain. Standing in the circle we are holding each other and in that silence you can hear only the tears dropping on the ground.  These circles are sometimes very difficult. We are standing here in pain and painful crack inside our hearts.  The pain I have inside, has been there for a long time. However it still embraces me quietly and scares me, I became strong here…

Through the eyes of the river

I am the river. I flow nearby the cottage full of children’s laugh, songs, and voices. Sometimes there are children feet inside me that break into my continuous stream. Even rocks that they throw to release the pain or anger they have from something hard they have went through. The boats they make are so full of dreams. And I do my best for them, I take all their dreams with my stream over the clouds above.