Ukrainian Jewish Children "Paint the Streets" in Reaction to Beslan Terrorist Attack

Please click here for a slideshow of the Drawing against Terror by Jewish Children at Risk in Ukraine.

On a recent Sunday more than a dozen at-risk youngsters, ages 8 to 14, participated in a "Children against Terror" drawing contest on the streets of Ukraine. The contest, run by the JDC-sponsored Beitenu ("our home") program in Lvov, offered an outlet for local Jewish children at-risk to express their reaction to September's tragic events in Beslan, North Ossetia, in which more than 1,000 individuals were held hostage and 330 people – including 189 children – died.

Using chalk on asphalt, these young artists created masterpieces conveying their feelings towards the traumatic events that struck hundreds of their peers. Contest participants, themselves at-risk youth with their own daily struggles, expressed a deep understanding of the need for safety and security. Each of the children's drawings also depicted the Beitenu program as a reliable home where they feel cared for and at peace. "It is clear from their artwork that the children perceive Beitenu and Hesed as sources of protection and nurturing amidst the horrors of the modern world," said one passerby who stopped to admire the sketches.

While art therapy is commonly used with elderly at the JDC-supported Hesed social welfare center, this is the first time since the Beitenu program's inception in late 2003 that such an activity was held for children. Given the success of this event, Beitenu Lvov plans to run an art therapy festival for children-at-risk and their families in the upcoming year.

JDC created the Beitenu program in Ukraine in response to the vast unmet needs of the region's impoverished, malnourished, and ill Jewish children. With Ukraine's average national salary of only $78 per month, high unemployment rates and a great number of households headed by single parents; it is not uncommon for children to become physically or emotionally vulnerable. A network of centers for Jewish youngsters and their families throughout Central, Western and Southern Ukraine, the Beitenu Centers for Jewish Children and Families seek to address the physical, social, and emotional needs of these children by providing several hours of after-school programming (and transport) four to five times a week, including a hot meal, Jewish education, and family-wide psychological support.

Beitenu was launched in 2003 with three community-based pilot projects – two for Jewish children-at-risk and one for disabled Jewish children – which targeted the neediest children, particularly elementary school aged youngsters with alcoholic or drug addicted parents or those coming from single or no parent families. As of October 2004, some 720 Jewish children in Ukraine benefit from Beitenu programs in 22 locations. Furthermore, in addition to its core services, Beitenu currently provides monthly food sets for 1,484 impoverished children.

Through Beitenu and other projects, JDC continues to assist local Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union and around the world to build the organizational, professional and logistical infrastructure required to deal with the specific needs of Jewish children and their families.

"Terror kills children," wrote one young boy in chalk, while a shy girl next to him introduced her "Beitenu against Terror" slogan to a large crowd of Lvov citizens gathered on the blacktop. Thanks to JDC, for one afternoon, these youngsters had the means to escape their everyday challenges and express their solidarity with the victims of terror.