Real friendship

Certain friendships are endless. We could again participate in the exchange of small gifts between the little girls Diana, Julia and Nina. In addition to the previously donated Eli doll, the sisters prepared painted works to hang on the wall, and Salma from Essen made a dream catcher herself. We passed everything on to Diana thanks to the kind mediation of Joanna Bednarska. The sun drawn in thanks is Diana’s work, it is a continuation of friendship …

100% friendship

The first doll from the PROMISE OF BEAUTY project went to Diana. Diana comes from Ukraine, she is treated in Łódź and she doesn’t have many friends here. The Ela doll made by ten-year-old Julia with her mother and sister may be with her forever. To be Diana’s friend, to be her treasure.

We would like to thank the Gajusz Foundation and, above all, Joanna Bednarska for the delivery of letters and a doll to the girl’s hands. A wonderful, touching moment when joy was created. Let’s be happy together with her.

Bartek’s dream

Bartek fell ill with leukemia and must undergo a bone marrow transplant. He has been in the hospital for weeks and has no chance of going home. We found out that Bartek loves to play on Xbox, but remotely with his brother.

We managed to make Bartek’s dream come true and, more importantly, the Xbox was delivered on his birthday. We are happy that we were able to please the boy in this difficult time for him and his family.

I?ll tell you my story

We want to show off. First of all, we praise the children participating in the project. The girls, with the help of Mrs. Irena, who supervised the project from the beginning, after weeks of testing each doll. Every one is more beautiful! See for yourself. Which one do you like the most? On the slat under the slogan CONTACT you will find our email address. Write to us. We are curious about your opinion.

I’ll tell you my story

The project is about integrating children of refugees in Germany, in Dorsten, in a school where 50% of students come from migrant families. Once a week, we want to be together, talk, spend time together, help each other when necessary, learn to sew, at the same time create your own doll and tell your own story …

Museum in High School

A project that we strongly support. The inauguration has just taken place. After long months of preparation, the exhibition consisting of 10 printouts of paintings by known Polish artists was made available to the first school. And here the Museum was literally in the High School. Interested students can freely use the knowledge gathered in the project about Polish painting. Pictures from the opening were made by Mr. Michał Greg. We, JOMI, wish you many more such fantastically prepared projects.

Initiative

In the small town of Olfen in North Rhine-Westphalia, more than 150 families of refugees, their children and relatives and people in need are able to supply things for the sake of home and for a symbolic amount of EUR 1. Dorothea and Gabriele, two sisters are the initiators. Someone else joined the project for a while. Very good supply of gifts, arranged in a transparent and sorted order facilitates shopping. Open always on Mondays. We support the initiative with warmth.

Artophilia

In the area of ??activities for the development of science, education, education and upbringing, we promote and support the new educational project of the Niezła Sztuka Foundation addressed to youth and schools – “Museum in the High School”. Details are available at www.muzeumwliceum.pl

We create the world together

I was the third lecture in the hall of the Oncology Hospital for children from the hospital school. Teacher educator Agnieszka Burzyńska took care of everything. Presented dolls served as the background for taking photos to commemorate our meeting. It was one hour devoted to sick children so that they can forget about the disease for a moment.

Drawings for the hospital

A trial print of the children’s drawing is ready. We were trying on the walls of the Oncohematology Department with Ms. Ordynator and her team. Irreplaceable Agnieszka Andruszkiewicz accompanying the project from its beginning was also with us on that day.

Children for children

There is a lot of joy. The next stage of a project is in progress. The doctors pick some from all the works, which will finally be hang on the walls of the Department. The memorial catalog by Agnieszka Andrusiewicz is also being prepared. The idea and implementation is the same authorship.

Help for seriously ill Julia

Less than nine years old Julia was diagnosed with type I diabetes. This story is carrying sadness, pain and parents impotence. In order to make her life and the illness easier, an insulin pump was needed. The funds given by our foundation enabled the purchase of the device. We hope that the girl will be able to play and grow up like a healthy child. We also hope that the device will serve impeccably in future and the given Teddy bear will became Julia’s favourite companion. And a wide smile will appear on her face.

Happy ending story

All the school aids entrusted to us for children in Africa, in faraway Malawi, thanks to the involvement of our friends, have reached their destination directly to the right hands. We are happy to inform you about this by attaching a photo.

For children in Malawi

We have got good news! Bettina i Jan-Michael will take care to deliver backpacks, crayons, notebooks and other basic school supplies directly into the hands of children in an orphanage in faraway African Malawi, as the Donor wished. It is a wonderfull feeling to be able to give these beautiful gifts. Let’s enjoy that together with them.

Visit at TV Studio

During our visit at TOYA Lajf Studio (local TV from Lodz) we had the opportunity to talk a bit about our journeys, people we met, about children and their dolls, and about our fascinating world. We also told about our book “The children of the world” but most of all about our young Foundation and its current activities. We would like to thank the editor Mr Marek Marchwitz for his kindness and this possibility.

One small step behind the sea

Indrani is another victim of the Sri Lankan natural disaster. She lost her husband and all her possessions during the Tsunami in 2004. From that time she lives only with her three daughters, trying to meet the demands of everyday life.

To make their life a bit better, toghether with Yvonne Grabowski we conducted the collection of clothing for the single mother and her daughters. Fortunatelly, we manage to gather a large number of it, and now we can send the package to the address indicated by Indrani.

To the tsunami victims

During the stay in Sri Lanka (Kalutara) we visited a family which suffered from Tsunami disaster in 2004.

The family lost all their belongings taken away by a sudden wave. With the help of private donors, the father of the family managed to rebuilt the solid, brick house, which he currently inhabit with his mother, wife and children. Some rooms are not finished yet, the facade is not ready and some areas need cement floors. With pleasure we also contributed, giving the donation, which was written to the rough copy, next to the donors from Belgium, Ukraine, Japan, Germany and many other countries from all over the world. Dedication and initiative of the family father is admirable.

“Children of the world”

The photo album

We have a pleasure to inform that the photo album Children of the world written by Jolanta Królikowska has appeared. It contains children and doll?s portraits from all over the world, particularly from Africa and South America. The book consists of ten chapters, has over 200 pages and is published in Polish and English languages. The purchase of the photo album will support projects of our foundation. One-third of the price of the book will be put into charity.

You can order the book by sending an email to the publisher: fundacja@jomi.org.pl

Preface

by

Prof. Dr. Dariusz Lebioda

Children are our greatest treasure. They are the wonderful, priceless future of this world. Miraculously born and quick to learn the significances of dimensions, shapes, colours, sounds, tastes and smells. As the days, months and years pass, they watch with wide eyes, absorbing everything around them, trying to show their relatives and chance acquaintances their vitality by smiling at animals, dolls and toys. Their tiny hearts beat rhythmically and evenly but when the heart rhythm becomes faster, they turn into barometers of the world that indicate abuse within existence. This is why we love them so much, hug them tightly and care and cherish them. We want them to be happy, but above all else, we protect them within our homes and families. Amongst the largest human injustices is wounding a child, with tears on their cheek, sadness in their eyes, melancholy complaints. And yet, there are many places in the world where these tiny individuals suffer and live in fear, crying without reason, their parents feeling their small hands trembling. Childhood should be a time of love and joy, but so often turns into a grim spectacle playing out before the whole world. What of it, that harming a child is treated by all cultures as a crime committed by humanity; what of it, that one always hears voices of dissent and opposition, when people are constantly found who care nothing for this, conflicts are always arising, in which the innocent die. It is in the early years where human personality takes shape, becoming the foundation of his future achievements, his creative intentions, his fulfilments, his humanity and his fate. It is from here that his paths lead to mountain heights, towards vast plains and to the beginning of wisdom and admired achievements. Every great writer, philosopher, astronaut, builder, all politicians and artists, composers and travellers have had their own childhood. It is not surprising, therefore, that authors of biographies, scholars and archivists begin their stories from the early years and moments when momentous future of man, starts to develop. These are attempts to show the development of someone who will leave a significant mark in history and will influence both his contemporaries and future generations. Not every child becomes a spiritual guide, not all children achieve success, but every one of them has in their tiny hearts the primary energy for the potential of their future achievements, for their light and bright moments, for applause and joy that will make their dreams come true.

Jolanta Królikowska has collected a magnificent range of fragile and gentle moments of a child?s world, their first and subsequent moments, frozen and fixed in the frame of the camera and retained forever in their uniqueness and symbolic dimension. The unusual beauty of photographs here, match the internal and external beauty of children from different parts of the world, children peeking curiously into the lens, and unexpectedly captured, lost in thought, in sadness or in cheerfulness. These are subtle portraits, arranged in the great fresco of humanity, constantly and encountering difficulties along their way ? this is a panorama of our species presented with a sense of mission, saving forever what might have been missed for centuries and millennia. Now captured and presented in a geographical sequence, it has become a value beyond estimation, making the artistic achievement of one person a success globally. It is like being on the other side of terrible television reports, information which shows that a human being is good, and that can develop their childhood into a bright successful future. This is proved by the author herself that within this incredible album and highly rated artistic undertaking, the author has revealed her own childhood which shaped her life towards achieving success. She has had other experiences previously; endless journeys, meeting millions of people, watching small children intently, recording their uniqueness, sadness, joy, reflection, the light in their faces. It is not often possible to see so much beauty and goodness in one book, so many multi-coloured eyes, different complexions and hair styles. It is not often possible for the photographer to present within the photographs, existential thoughts, the ethos of humanity and being constantly transformed in subsequent stages of development. Whoever these children will be in the future, they are presented here as gentle, fleeting human beings staring at the future and eternity of existence. The glance of a two, three, five-year-old can be amazingly wise, as if they had lived in a mysterious world and had carried a rapidly disappearing knowledge of metaphysical travel. Children are good-natured. A child can look with bright eyes at colourful blocks or white clouds in a blue sky. A child can watch the world through rose-coloured spectacles and can show considerable affection even for trees outside their house. These photographs explore the recesses of a child?s mind. They represent a child?s thoughts. Their shining eyes reflect the mysteries of the world. It seems to be an analysis of movements and gestures of the growing child who is deciding what life means for them.

It is difficult to portray a part of an ordinary life in a photograph. It is difficult to make a single photograph part of the great panorama. In this album you will find photographs of extraordinary moments: the simplicity of a child?s smiling face or the holding out of a hand, yet a painful sadness in a tear glistening child?s eye. Children yearn for love, goodness and warmth, they desire close friends as they desire an unremarkable hand puppet or doll. It may be the key to unlocking the anxieties and secrets of their heart. Throughout the world, the same ritual is recurrent. Adults gift children with teddy bears, hand puppets, dolls etc. who make them their best friends – the centre of their privacy. A child needs to have a friend whilst falling asleep or going to school or whilst travelling. The time spent together with the friend, becomes a part of the story of birth and growing up. It is about fulfilling the task of becoming an adult. Jolanta Królikowska?s photographs of children have great artistic value. The toys and hand puppets presented here encompass the art and reflect the cultures of the towns, regions, or countries. Looking at toys you can see the photographers? great attention to reproduce the realities of skin colour, hair styles, clothing and the emotion transferred from the family. Rustic elements are also combined with industrial design which highlight characteristic modifications. It is both the child and the adult who give individual expressions that prepare children for their development into adults; to shape the personality of a child. Our presence in the world is temporary, our being among the living has its beginning and end, which is why we are building an enclave of peace and tranquility, looking for friendship and truth, beauty and goodness. Children certainly find value in playing with toys, hand puppets, plastic cars and building blocks and the colours, softness, textures of the materials the toys are made of, even the scent, are certainly essential for comfort. But the most important aspect to a child is their closeness, intimacy and attachment to the mother and father and the confirmation of the belief that coexistence is harmonious ? a state of reality in which we live.

It is also worth noting the background to these portraits and the larger groups within, as they become the drapery of the world. Whether it be a poor African village or a small town lost in the midst of the Andes of South America, or well-known places in Poland, every time they become part of the world being shaped in children?s minds. These photographs exhibit a variety of colours: deep blacks and shadows with lights and complementary colours leading us to regard the photographs from the viewpoint of Flemish artists or Impressionist painters. In these photographs we discover copious information about the distant world – taught at school but sadly forgotten. We forget that the globe is a flash of positive energy, constantly giving birth to new children thus making hundreds or thousands or even millions of new children probing their new found world and examining the essence of life from newly learned first words of ?mummy, ?daddy?, ?love??.. The author thus, manages to show us characteristic features of a great photographer, showing real human beings reflected in these small children, with their precious faces and forms and their naturally delicate and gentle souls. Some photographs contain such symbolic energy that they should be presented in museums in order to justify that man is a beautiful, sensitive and ethereal creature. Others should be endorsed to be the evidence of people?s life at the beginning of the twenty first century. It is worthwhile giving attention to the incredible colours of this album; colours which have been lost in the process of growing-up. These were lost when adopting western style culture in which greyness and repetitiveness have become the rules in fashion and industrial design. In this album, basic colours and abundant shades began to liven, brighten lighten to give a new aesthetic quality. This is a wonderful ?frame? for these gleaming eyes and pulsating mouths; this is a suitable background to show off the perfect captured moments of dawn, noon and dusk. But above all, it is to revel in the beauty of belonging to the greater human family.

https://lebioda.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/skarby-swiata/

The photo album was launched at Children’s Day, on 1st June 2016. It took place at Arlekin Theatre in Lodz and it was presented by Dr Joanna Hrk. The album was awarded with the Maria Konopnicka Prize for its beauty and humanism.