Those in charge of the initiative: “We suggest not to leave the children alone with their emotions, but to teach them to express themselves on paper!”
While the adults tell, fight and try to survive the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there are little ones watching everything in silence. They seek protection in those adults who hide them in bunkers, who take them with them on long and complicated escapes to destinations where the goal is only one: to survive. Silences of children interrupted only by crying or by the rare cases in which parents try to snatch a smile from them by giving glimpses of normality.
Sasha Starling, Kiev
At 5 am on February 24, 2022 “in an instant, our world collapsed and since then we have been surrounded by tears, pain and horror. But the worst thing is to see the eyes of children: the fear has settled there” reads on the site where children’s drawings are collected every day that tell how they see the war that is ravaging their Ukraine, which has led them away from their homes and, very often, from the affection of their fathers who are left to fight against the Russian army.
“Today children are the most stressed: most of their time is spent in basements and air raid shelters, they are not allowed to go out on the playground and play, parents feel anxious and cannot explain their feelings, they are in a state of uncertainty and isolation from their usual things, even parents do not have the resources to explain and entertain everyone “also reads Ua Kids Today.
Alina, 12 years old
From there the idea of collecting children’s drawings, those images that fill the time for those who make them, with the magic of those colors that give life to white sheets, but which also become a means of communicating to the world what they have inside. : «We suggest not to leave children alone with their emotions, but to teach them to express themselves on paper! – reads on the site -. We often see your children’s photos on your social pages, so we recommend that you create an online gallery for them! This will allow them to distract themselves from what is happening around them. Feel part of a great team of artists from all over Ukraine. You have time to be with yourself. Teach children to face their experiences through drawing. And we will show the whole world how OUR CHILDREN feel! ».
And so the drawings started to arrive. Many children between 5 and 12 years old. In their traits they represent the Ukrainian soldiers who defend the houses, the snowmen (another symbol of the house) from the enemy. On one side the machine guns of the soldiers, on the other the missiles fired by the Russians. In a drawing, Alina, 12, depicts a scene made known in a video on social media: a Ukrainian blue tractor pulling a Russian tank that has been rendered harmless.
Yegor Novakovsky, 10, Kiev
And then there is Yegor, a 10-year-old boy from Kiev, who represents a mother with her little girl watching a little bird in a tree. Not far away there is a house that could be their home, but to break into this situation of serene everyday life are missiles, painted in the red and blue colors of Russia that from the top right are about to hit those defenseless civilians.
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