Aren’t we cool?

Albert Einstein said “Art is the expression of the deepest thoughts in the simplest way”. The Handicrafts Fair was held on Saturday, January 8th, 2011, revealing an artistic side of the little dwellers of the Kalinovka orphanage.

The Handicraft Fair featured ten bead works, pictures made of natural materials such as wool, and plaster sculptures. The creators of these handicrafts are boys with different kinds of disabilities such as cerebral spastic infantile paralysis, Down’s syndrome and mental retardation. These little artists showed fair visitors that despite their various handicaps, their hands are able to create little miracles.

The group of the children from the 3rd department whose works were exhibited at the fair:

Romanov Alyosha, Polukhin Seryozha, Nehanov Artyom, Kosykh Vlad, Zalozniy Sasha, Fedorchenko Ruslan, Solovyev Oleh, Rudakovich Vatalik, Sayhak Dima,and Khaliev Murat.

Last but not least, we’d like to mention the teachers without whose valuable assistance the handicrafts would not have been made. Kalinichenko Lidia Nikolaevna teaches the little pupils how to make bead works, and Kora Valentina Vasilyevna how to make pictures from natural materials. Thank you for your love and care!

The handicrafts took the spectators’ breath away. Many visitors were saying “I could never make such crafts and I don’t have any disabilities!” Now the little artists have got new handicrafts orders for a year ahead!

The total proceeds from the handicrafts fair trade was 1, 900 hryvnyas (237 $). This money will help the children develop their art skills.

Our special thanks for holding this Handicrafts Fair goes to the Zaporizhia regional Youth organization “The Young Christians Union of Ukraine” and its manager – Matykhin Dmitriy.

You can also support the art skills development of the children of the Kalinovka Orphanage through donations which would help cover the teachers’ salaries as well as the purchase of the necessary equipment for lessons.