During
the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly (19.11.2009), the 20th
of February was set to be a day of Social Justice in the world. This has
started to be acknowledged since 2009. The initiative to set a day like this
belongs to the Government of Kyrgyzstan. The resolution that aimed at
organizing such date was compiled by co-authors from more than 80 countries.
This year the Day of Social Justice in the World has been celebrated for the
first time in Ukraine. The aim of commemorating this date lies in attracting
attention of the local and national government, society, and NGOs to the
question of social justice and an urgent necessity to unite efforts in order to
build a country based on social justice, as well as a strong need to embark on
discussions connected with coming up with strategies that will help to
introduce social justice to Ukraine.
Inspired
by such an important date in the world, the administration and the volunteers
of the Charitable Foundation “Crocus” in Kolomyya decided to make a step
towards implementation of the social justice scheme in Ukraine through
integration of people with disabilities (in particular with mental
disabilities) into society. The administration and the volunteers conducted a
series of lessons on Tolerance aimed at the students of the Pedagogical College
in Kolomyya. With support of a FLEX Alumni Grant the lessons were organized and
conducted by FLEX Alumni Halia Biletska, Peace Corp volunteer at “Crocus” Mike
Woo, and the director of Charitable Foundation “Crocus” Liubov Masevych during
two days – 20th -21st of February. During these two days, the organizers trained
students from the Pedagogical College on strategies of conduct and
communication with people with mental disabilities, taught them to destroy the
long-established stigmas in the society, changed negative attitudes towards
people with special needs, and gained an understand of their problems, desires,
and dreams.
The
total amount of classes conducted was 6 classes that involved approximately 150
people. The students had an opportunity to watch a movie about the life stories
of different families that raise children with intellectual disabilities,
personally talk to young people with disabilities, learn to listen and
understand, dream together with them, and realize that their dreams are similar
in their essence, and that all people want to be happy in life. The students
also had a chance to understand that because people have different abilities in
life (physical and intellectual) the ways in which they achieve success and
happiness differ.
The
organizers were trying to prove with help of different experiential games, life
situations modeling, communication tasks, and other methods, that no matter
what disabilities or special needs a person might have, all people need as much
love, care, and understanding as we can give each other. The organizers could
see that all the students who attended a lesson were touched by the information
given to them. All of them have their life stories – some of them were thinking
about their friends, relatives, or neighbors and analyzed the way they behave
and treat these people. The students were deeply touched by the problem,
because some of them have never even come across such issues – they have never
had a chance to communicate with people with special needs. Some students could
not help but demonstrate their emotions through tears, warm words of
appreciation for a life lesson they had a chance to learn and remember. We hope
that the final words of the lessons will guide the students and remind them
that:
Remember,
dear friend, that life is not a fairy tale!
It has a
lot of melodies for you
Still
blessed be your heart with love today
And
freed from all the songs of gloom!
Remember,
dear friend that life should not be an award
You
proudly take after the race
Your
life should always be the special road
You
follow subtly and embrace!
During
the lessons the students also received special invitations to the training
conducted by a member of the Theater Association of Ukraine, the teacher of
acting art and production techniques of Kyiv Arts College, as well as the
director and producer of the Theatrical Studio “The Seedlings”, the art
director of the International Integrational Theatrical Festival “Sun Wave” –
Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Liubota. The topic of training was the following,
“Creative reflection and self-realization of a group of people with
intellectual and physical disabilities – the road that starts from theory and
goes on with practical experience”.
The
training took place on the 22nd and the 23d of February, 2013 in the Pedagogical College dance hall. The total amount of
hours of training – 10 hours; the total amount of people that were actively
engaged in the event – 42 people. These were students, social pedagogues, and
psychologists from local schools, the employees of the Social Help Center for
children, youth and their families; people with special needs and their parents.
Vitaliy Volodymyrovych left behind many memorable moments and “the seeds” of
inspiration. We hope that these seeds will grow into a powerful tree of
activism and desire to change our society forever by bringing some new forms of
art expression to the life of special needs individuals – theater therapy. This
day has marked the beginning of a new small project by Halia Biletska and Mike
Woo under the title “Day with Art”, supported by the Youth in Action Program of
the European Union, the organization in Czech Republic “Hnuti Brontozaurus”,
and the Training Course Program “MyXperience”.
The
introduction of Art Therapy sessions for youth with special needs in Kolomyya
is largely supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands
in Ukraine
and the Community Fund of Dolyna.
