To give back joy to 400 traumatized Ukrainian kids

Our dearest fantastic donors and friends of children,

on daily bases we work with children suffering of trauma, loneliness and loss caused bythe war in Ukraine. Today, I want to tell you a story about 12 years old Maryna from Ukraine and her extraordinary come back to the joy of life thanks to the Power of play.

Maryna is a 12 year old girl from Ukraine. She left Ukraine together with her mother and sister just after the war started. Maryna was a witness of military operation. She was very closed, shy and scared, when we met her. She did not talk too much, but gladly took part in our project. “She started the journey with us in complete silence. She attended all the plays and activities, but she didn’t talk to anyone. On the one hand she was very withdrawn. She agreed to everything, did all she was asked for, but without any interaction with her peers and guardians. However, together with passage of time, especially after the outdoor play, when children had to work together, she was changing. Maryna started to talk and integrate with their peers. I recall the day of awarding, she was so happy and cheerful. We noticed she started to keep in touch with other girls from the project. We saw them walking around the town together, and cinema.”- says Sylwia, one of the guardians. Maryna is an example of an extraordinary change, which take place in a person thanks to the sense of safety and care from other people. That was thanks to the Power of play project.

Thanks to your contribution, we can change for better well-being of hundreds of children from Ukraine. Make them fill good about themselves again and bring joy to their lives. Your donation make real positive change in life to children like Maryna, who is with us for 5 months now- from shy, silent and withdrawn girl, she changed in to a happy and full of friends person. Thank you for making this change possible!

Wishing you all the best,

Dawid with Coalition for Youth Foundation’s team.

Thank you for being with us and our children. Also the children of our donors as your donations give the hope to the kids and their families that everything can fall into place again. I am writing this report just after visiting all three locations of our project (Bialobrzegi, Grojec and Kozienice in central Poland). I hope you could be with me to see all of the 115 little faces smiling at You today and compare them with the same faces two months ago.

Past three months were very hardworking for us. We organized the workshops in 3 locations, gathered the team of guardians, psychologists and volunteers. We started the project with preparing and educating our team about the play in crisis methodology and working with children touched by trauma. They had to be prepared for any possibilities- just imagine you have to answer yourself questions of the kid as “Is my dad still alive? Mom told me that we are staying here and she doesn’t know if we ever come back home”. I am pleased to let you know that we have a great team to work with children!

We do not underestimate the power of play! Two months ago 115 children started the psychoeducation based on free play, Polish and Ukrainian children integration. Around 70% of children taking part in the program are from Ukraine living now in small towns and villages in central Poland. Those children suffer from trauma caused by loneliness, longing, incomprehension and being far away from home and things, which make them feel safe. During those three months they took part in 36 hours of plays and workshops organized by our Foundation working with guardians and solving individual problems with psychologists. Our work is based on play as the tool to talk and work with children touching hard topics and making them feel happy. 9 years old Misza told as that he had never had so much fun than playing with paper toys. Children can do with them whatever they want. For example making a hat, skirt, obstacle course or jumping obstacles- it is up their imagination. Observation emotions of children in play situations is a starting point for us to work on their deep problems with psychologists.

Sending you the 115 smiles I saw today!  Thanks to generous donations of our supporters, we can provide help to kids, who cannot find themselves in current situation after leaving their families, homes, friends and room with favorite toys among which their felt safe. Each donation makes a difference for them and their days easier day by day. So thank you for making this change possible!

Warm greetings and all the best,

Dawid with Coaliton for Youth Foundation's team

Links:

• Here you can watch a short video from Grojec
• Facebook is a great place to be in touch
• Power of play in Bialobrzegi