With love, to our heroes
How Den’s project “Warm Postcard” struck up friendship between schoolchildren and the military
Two schoolgirls, Sasha Tkachenko and Daryna Koroliova, from Class 4B, Comprehensive School No. 4 in Bucha, and their teacher Natalia Samiilenko visited the Den editorial office in early December. They brought a stack of drawings and letters addressed to our front-line soldiers on behalf of the 1st-to-4th-grade pupils. The Bucha school thus joined our project “Warm Postcard” (without “+ Warm Garment” at the time), about which they had read in Facebook. Later, when packing parcels to the military now stationed in the Luhansk region’s combat zone, we saw that there were 126 drawings and letters. This means positive emotions and a shimmer of warmth for 126 combatants. It is a very precious parcel.
“When the children were writing the first letters, they were crying. We, parents and teachers, were also crying when we were reading them. The theme of war is very close to everybody, for many pupils have relatives who serve in the antiterrorist operation (ATO) zone. The godfather of a boy was wounded and treated in hospital, so the boy felt this very keenly. There are also refugee children in our school. We do not single them out in any way, but they also know what a war is,” Samiilenko says. She says the children themselves have shown initiative and are now drawing pictures and writing letters at any suitable moment – during the break, at drawing lessons, and on vacation. “There is a girl in our class, Arina Rohal-Levytska of Taras Shevchenko’s lineage, a child of gold, who draws very well. She drew 36 pictures during the last vacation,” the teacher says smiling. She adds that their class had already sent a total 600 drawings, letters, and postcards by the end of December. “It has turned out that the driver who takes our class for tours also visits the ATO zone as a volunteer. I didn’t even know this. This prompted us to draw our first pictures and write letters. Now it is the children’s favorite occupation,” Samiilenko smiles.
“We visit a hospital every week and bring over biscuits, cakes, and other yummy things,” the 10-year-old Daryna says, joining the conversation. “There is a fair in the school every month. The children and their parents bake all kinds of delicious foods and sell them for 2-3 hryvnias. We hand over the raised funds to the hospitals and the ATO zone.” Samiilenko specifies that the school raised 24,000 hryvnias at the first two school fairs.
INSCRIPTION READS: “I LOVE UKRAINE!”
“Now we are making Christmas tree decorations for the Irpin military hospital. It is a symbolic gift to our soldiers,” the 9-year-old Sasha says. “I in general want the soldiers to aspire for victory, to be strong, brave, and fearless. I’d like our letters to warm them. They must control themselves and win.”
Den handed over all the letters and drawings to the 92nd Detached Mechanized Brigade stationed in the Luhansk region. Since then, the drawings story has gone further on. The military phoned us, saying that the children’s letters moved them very much. They thanked the little ones very much and handed them over, as a sign of gratitude, a flag of Ukraine, their autographs and wishes which were no less touching than those of the children. This flag from the front line was to be a New Year surprise for the kids who looked forward to any response from the military. Den met Class 4B again recently. The class has packed another batch of New Year gifts for the soldiers, such as paper tanks, patriotic bracelets, and a pile of drawings. We told the children the soldiers’ words and handed in the gift. The flag aroused unbridled enthusiasm among the schoolchildren – everybody wished to hold it and read the wishes. They photographed and even smelled it, saying that it gives off a special aroma. We decided to hang it in the school hall. In response to this gift, the children asked us to send their New Year greetings and wishes to the military, thus continuing – with Den’s help – to strengthen this new friendship. We decided to video-record the words of thanks and support for all those who are fighting now in the east on behalf of Class 4B, Bucha School No. 4. You can watch the video on Den’s website. We are looking forward to the continuation of this story and will be glad to remain its participants.
