The FFU team visited the indomitable Kharkiv

Last week, the foundation's team visited the reinforced concrete Kharkiv, which has been steadily withstanding enemy attacks since the first days of the war. The purpose of the trip was the transfer of humanitarian aid from the Rescue Now international fund for Litokryl — creative spaces for psycho-emotional support of children injured during the war.

These spaces were created by the Rescue Now charity foundation team which, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, has been helping lonely grandparents under patronage, evacuating people from the frontline and de-occupied territories, and taking care of children.

In particular, creative workshops, art therapy classes, introductions to various professions, group and individual psychotherapy, and fairy-tale therapy are held at Litokryl. That is why our team brought a lot of stationery: colored paper, cardboard, glue, scissors, paints, pencils, notebooks, felt-tip pens, and oil pastels — everything you need for a flight of imagination!

"Together with managers and psychologists, we observe how children behave in class and how their condition changes. They become livelier and begin to trust more. Because when children come to us for the first time, they are afraid of everything, and they were even in such a state that they shuddered from shaking and shuddering at everything..." says Olesya Maltseva, the project curator at Litokryl.

"We currently have more than 250 children in the base, and 720 have visited us in a month. We work every day, and someone is always with us. It is a rare situation when any children have not come at all. Previously, there was a smaller location, and we simply did not have time to record everyone! Because immediately about 100 willing people wrote so that if someone did not come, we would invite them. Now there are already two locations, and this process has been optimized. In the future, we want to open Litokryl in Kyiv. We are also looking for partners who would like to support us in the future. This is a long-term project that will live even after the end of the war," — shared Olga Kabanets, curator of the Litokryl project.

The FFU team also brought soft toys, which were given by children from Portugal to Ukrainian children. Hand-drawn postcards were attached to each. Our girls read the accompanying letter in which the Portuguese children expressed their support for our little one. The children were delighted by such a display of warmth and care for them!

 "Children with completely different stories are gathered here: some did not leave and spent the most active phases of the war in the city, literally living in the subway, some of them just returned after going abroad and are adapting to changes. Everyone has different levels of stress and fear. They draw strange pictures and answer ordinary questions that literally chill the skin. They start crying for no apparent reason because they really want attention. At the same time, they remain open and happy to get together. These moments of social adaptation are very important. We were sincerely glad to bring everything necessary for art therapy and creative gatherings and take part in one of them," — shared her impressions of Olga Glyuza, a volunteer curator of humanitarian assistance at Future for Ukraine.

Also, our girls, Alyona and Olya, joined the children in a master class on making parrots from colored cardboard. It's real magic when the same task but different visions give completely different results! And the children happily smile and rejoice in their creative results!