“Our angels now wear the Armed Forces uniform! But they also need guardian angels for themselves, so I decided to make them with my own hands! Crafting a handmade angel as a gift, you are giving not just a toy but the warmth of your heart and a bit of your love that will serve as a real charm! I sent those guardian angels to the front lines; I sold them to gather money for the Armed Forces; and thanks to the Goodacity microgrant, I was also able to hold creative workshops for children. They crafted angels and other decorations, and I sent all the proceeds for the needs of the army…” Vita Kuzmych, the creative and imaginative craftswoman from the town of Smyha in the Rivne region, not only creates beauty with her hands; her works also make a small part of our great Victory!
A little joy in a difficult time
“I have been working as a librarian of the Smyha public school library for five years,” Vita says. “You can say that I inherited this profession from my mother and grandmother, who also had been working in this area (and my mother still does). In fact, I am the third generation of librarians in my family. [the girl laughs.] In addition to providing books and promoting reading in general, my work tasks also include holding various classes for kids so that they could be creative. I am a creative person myself; I like to craft various interesting handmade items. I have been weaving angels with the macramé technique for more than a year. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, I have been selling my products to raise funds to help the army during the war.
O’Henry once said that a person’s best traits are revealed when they do something for the sake of another person,” the girl quotes the words of the well-known writer.
“I thought, why shouldn’t I put my skills and talents out to help our defenders and to bring a little joy to kids in a difficult time? I decided to hold workshops, and transfer the proceeds to the military from our community, who need funds for some necessities. I was actually inspired by my teacher from the Rivne State Humanitarian University. She had moved to the Ivano-Frankivsk region, and after seeing my work that I was selling through social media to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, she offered me to hold a workshop at the college where she was teaching at that time.
I didn’t have the opportunity to go to the Ivano-Frankivsk region, but I prepared special handmade kits, sent them to her, and we got creative with the participants of the workshop online! So, I decided to try holding similar creative workshops with the kids in Smyha. I took it up and that was how it started…”
Charms of the Victory
“I bought special threads for macramé with the funds from the microgrant and held five classes for children of different ages, from 7 to 15 years old.”
“The children gladly responded to such an initiative, they came to the workshop and crafted with pleasure! I was even invited to the neighboring Bereh village to hold a workshop for the local children, and a lot of them came to the class!
All the funds earned with these workshops were transferred for the needs of the army, for the military of our community in particular.
Thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, children in our village have the opportunity to go to the library, communicate there, read books, play board games, and blossom as an individual. Our soldiers are a reliable security shield for us, and we can thank them by helping in every possible way. Everyone can make themselves useful for the defense of the country.
Every hryvnia is important to support our army so that we can defeat the enemy as soon as possible and live under a peaceful sky. Any help during the war is important now!”
“At our workshops, children mostly make angels with me, as these are our most popular items, but we also craft house gnomes and wall decorations.
The children start mastering the technique, and they are curious about the materials. After the class they say that they would like to continue working in this technique and evolve in this creative direction. We want to invest all the power of creativity and our positive attitude in the things we make. Such creativity inspires and soothes, it heals the soul…”
“Making my angels, I treat them as charms. I put my thoughts and wishes, a piece of my soul and love for Ukraine in them! Even if they do not go to the front, the funds raised for them do, so they become guardian angels for our defenders in any case! I believe that they will become a part of our Victory!”
