Meet David from Kyiv. He is seven and volunteers with his family in the Kyiv region bringing food to war-torn affected people. Davis also sells is drawings on non-profit art marketplace for kids from Ukraine called leleka.me.
"If someone buys my artwork, I want to use this money to help Ukraine," said David, who, despite his young age, has already made £100."
UK-based non-profit LELEKA launched last week and has received more than 7,000 paintings from 2,000 children that want to sell artworks to support their families and country. The number keeps growing, and the team hopes to raise at least £100 for each child on the platform.
David selling his art through non-profit LELEKA. Credit: LELEKA
The children can spend their earnings to help their families, buy what they want, donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine or their local charities – the non-profit stresses that what they do with the money is completely up to them.
3 million children in Ukraine and over 2.2 million children in refugee-hosting countries are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to UNICEF. Almost two in three have been displaced by fighting.
A child's sense of belonging and control is damaged when displaced, so LELEKA was launched to help children regain their self-worth.
Helping kids regain agency through art
Children under 18 from Ukraine can sell printable versions of their art on the LELEKA platform. The children have either remained in the war-torn country or children forced to flee. LELEKA accepts artwork from any children in Ukraine, regardless of their nationality.
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The non-profit initiative is run by volunteers. It is free for artists, nor does it take commissions or collect data.
"It’s hard for adults to flee. For children, it is twice as hard. Kids aren’t involved in civic activism or money-making, so they usually find themselves alone, worthless and completely lost. We built LELEKA so that children from Ukraine can start feeling safe, useful and in control again," said Aliaksandra Lamachenka, a LELEKA co-founder.
Picture, Darinka. Credit: LELEKA
The platform allows children to express their feelings and beliefs. The non-profit's goal is to let the children communicate their creativity as a counterbalance to the war's destruction. In addition, LELEKO hopes that people around the world will support the children's efforts.
To find out more about the initiative, see here.
