In a shelter near Kamianske, a playroom was equipped for the children of internally displaced people
On the eve of the New Year and Christmas holidays, a large entertainment room in the shelter of Kamianske welcomed its little visitors. This became possible thanks to the support of donor partners of the Saving Lives project, created by Metinvest Group in coordination with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.
It is customary to give presents on New Year’s Eve. Both children and adults are sincerely happy with them. Positive emotions and feelings of a fairy tale are especially needed for those who experienced severe challenges in the past year.
Almost 300 IDPs from Mariupol, Avdiivka and other cities which are under shelling are currently housed in one of the shelters near Kamianske. Sixty-five children have found protection here. To make their leisure time more meaningful and rich in bright events, a large playroom was arranged in the shelter on New Year’s Eve.
It has a variety of games for children of different ages. This was made possible thanks to the support of an Italian law company, one of the donor partners of the Saving Lives humanitarian project.
“We have divided the room into three sectors. Children under six years old will be interested in playing in the “soft” area, where there are bright hammocks, slides, a dry pool and interactive games. For children from six years old – entertaining and educational board games. And the oldest children will appreciate the cyberzone, where they can play game consoles with a set of cool games”, said Stanislav LYSYTSIA, a representative of Zaporizhzhia Social Initiatives, LLC.
This really welcome gift for the New Year holidays has already been appreciated by the first visitors to the game room. Parents are also happy, because in winter and in bad weather, children have a place to spend time with benefit, play, communicate and develop.
It is worth reminding that as part of the Saving Lives humanitarian project, together with the Masha Foundation, the Invincible Mother programme is being implemented. It was created to stabilize the psychological and emotional state of the participants, prevent the development of PTSD, develop the abilities of adaptation and self-realization, and create new social ties.
Metinvest employees and the wives and children of the company’s employees who were under occupation, lost family members, left their homes or have deep psychological trauma as a result of the experience got to the project. For three weeks, the specialists worked with 140 participants according to an individual schedule for mothers and children. The participants attended psychological classes and art therapy workshops, and received individual consultations.
In total, about 375,000 Ukrainians have received support from the Saving Lives project since the start of the full-scale war.