Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

Most of the Ukrainian people were sad and melancholy on Mother's Day and Children's Day this year. On June 4, the Tzu Chi volunteer team in Poland, together with social workers and clergy of the Camillians, arranged a parent-child activity in Lomianki Shelter Center in the west of Warsaw, the capital. They hoped that they could smile again.

Children painted the shape of their palms on color-paper, cut them out and rolled them up to become beautiful palm flowers. As soon as the children gave the palm flowers to their mothers, magically, the flowers put smiles on their faces.

More than 30 children at the scene also painted their clothes by themselves. Each top is unique. If you look closely, most of the children painted blue and yellow, the combination of the Ukrainian flag.

Ukrainian child Sviatoslav said: "I paint Ukraine, blue represents the sea. I like yellow very much; yellow represents wheat fields. Yellow and blue are the colors of our Ukraine."

Wearing a Ukrainian embroidered dress, Oksana, the former deputy director of the social welfare department in Ukraine, painted a dove of peace and presented it to Tzu Chi volunteers.

She said, "Drawing this dove symbolizes peace. Thank you for your kindness and open-mindedness. What you (Tzu Chi) have done for the Ukrainian people is very helpful. Together we pray for peace to come."

Wanyin Zhong, Special Commissioner of Tzu Chi USA, said: "We feel that our philosophy is very close to hers. Although they fled to Poland, they all want peace in their country. In fact, they are very kind.”

Because of the war, Ukrainians were not in the mood to celebrate Mother's Day and Children's Day. Tzu Chi and Camillians cooperated to create happy festivals in the shelter for refugees.

Agnieszka Wróbel, social worker of the Polish Camillians, said: "When the children and their mothers first arrived here, they were very sad. We observed them for two or three weeks, trying to think about how to help them. After two months, we finally saw the smiles of the children, and the mothers would go out and shopping. They are no longer so depressed.”

Surrounded by singing and laughter, the women and children could temporarily forget the gloom brought by the war.

The world needs peace. And only kindness and compassion will bring peace to all living beings. Thus let us always harbor love and good thoughts in our hearts and put them into action for the peace of the world.

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