A Visit to Velikopolovetskoe (Kyivs’ka oblast’) (4/11/2018)
In November, Bright Kids visited an orphanage in Velikopolovetskoe with two of our volunteers to offer master-classes in dance and in wet felting.
Volunteer Oksana Evtyshenko guided the class participants in games and dance activities to help inspire a joy for movement. The children enjoyed tossing balloons and learning how to dance without concern.
Volunteer and master-class teacher Nataliia Nikiforova offered teenagers a chance to learn about wet felting. Wet felting is the ancient art form of combining layers of wool roving and wool yarn into a single flat piece of felt fabric. The young artists enjoyed learning the process of wet felting, seeing how the equipment is used and holding their finished and useful final product.
A big thank you to all of our committed and amazing volunteers who joined us on this trip and sharing your skills:
Julia Kraeva, Irina Harchenko, Olesya Lysenko, Nata Kolomoets, Oksana Kucherenko-Moskaliuk, Oksana Evtushenko and Nataliia Nikiforova.
A special thank you to Yurii Yatsenko for his help with transportation.
Tickets to Teen Fest (11/11/2018)
Teen Fest is an exciting kids party that brings together teenagers from various backgrounds and experiences to share in a day of fun and games in a safe and nurturing environment. It is an opportunity to make friends, play games and discover new interests.
This year Bright Kids was able to offer teenagers from three underprivileged families tickets to the event in November.
We are so proud of all they achieved at the festival. They each had the opportunity to experience new things and develop their self-confidence. From working and earning money to creating new friendships, we know our teenage friends learned so much from the opportunity, and we can’t wait to offer more kids the same chance to change their perspective and create new opportunities for themselves.
Volunteer Road Trip to Dovbysh (17/11/2018)
In November, 15 volunteers and two of their children, travelled to an orphanage in Dovbysh, a settlement in Baranivka Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine, to share their time and skills with the children in the orphanage.
Volunteer Elena Melnik led the children in games, including ‘memory’, and other activities to boost creativity and imagination. ?
The children were having so much fun that Elena was lost in a sea of excited kids all wanting to participate.
Artists Tatyana Marinchak and Nata Kolomoets hosted an art lesson called ‘My Planet’. Children are encouraged to let their imagination sour and conceive of a planet where their dreams could come to life. Then they chose from a variety of craft supplies to make their planets a reality. The children were able to experiment with different colours, materials and styles while watching their creations come to life with the guidance of experienced artists.
After the children completed their artistic creations, Tatyana and Nata braided and styled the children’s hair for fun; and the kids looked great sporting their new styles and watching closely to learn some new techniques.
Artist Olga Soboleva hosted a stained-glass window making master-class. The children who participated enjoyed conceiving creative designs, working with new materials and sharing their beautiful completed pieces that glittered in the sunlight.
Volunteer Yurii Yatsenko and his son challenged the children to games of tennis and football. They played together, developing their skills and learning more about the rules of the sports.
Afterwards, Yurii hosted guitar lessons. The participants mastered some basic cords and had lots of fun making music.
A huge thank you to Yurii who provided the transport for our road trip.
One of the day’s most popular activities was a cooking master-class hosted by Tataiana Gnatyuk, Yurii Rakotsi and his daughter, Amerisis.
They prepared lots of yummy food for everyone to enjoy and showed us all some new skills in the kitchen.
Finally, we would like to thank the orphanage’s administration team – Vadim Romanchuk, Lilia Polukovskaya, Tatiana Sobetskaya. Your warm reception and assistance in organizing the day means so much to all the Bright Kids staff and volunteers.
We appreciate that you allowed us to visit and were so welcoming.
