Hello dear ones,
On Sunday we had a lovely opportunity to spend time as a part of our project, with a group of refugees from Ukraine that live in the Bulgarian city, Pernik. Our visitation was divided in two parts, the first one it was a meeting with the grown-ups (parents) that live there in order to discuss a possible solidarity project, and the second one was a workshop with the kids.
We presented them with the meaning and the goal of a solidarity project, and with some possible ideas of what kind of activities we may include in it. We had open discussion with them on what their needs and wants. The two parts really connected, and we saw true interest in which a solidarity project would be beneficial for this community, but I will not reveal more. When there is more to be written, I will let you know.
After that, we had the workshop with the kids. We started off by asking them some questions about plants and gardening in order to see where they stand with their knowledge on the subject, and then we started with the games. We somehow naturally divided into two groups, boys and girls. The girls were more into the game with the masks, so Poli and I worked with them. Actually it was not just the both of us because we had new helpers during the workshop, two new fellow members of the association, Aleks and Radoslav. Aleks joined us, while Rado helped Misha with the boys who were doing the puzzle. I could see that all the children had a lot of fun and learned new things.
After we finished with these activities, we made two rounds of the (improved) Companion plants domino game. In each round, we played by a different set of rules. We firstly explained to the children that we are now testing the game, and we would like to hear their feedback on it. We had a lot of fun, the competitive spirit was on a good level.
It was my first meeting with a refugee community and I felt a very warm welcome and beautiful atmosphere. My heart opened even more with compassion for their situation. I admire them for their bravery and spirit. I hope and pray that peace will come soon everywhere it is lacking, but until then we stand together as a community of humanity and try to do our best to help each other make this life easier.
Love,
Marija
