ЮНЕСКО та Фундація заради миру оголосили результати щорічного міжнародного конкурсу з написання есе. Тема конкурсу 2013 року - "Сила культури для кращого майбуття". На конкурс було подано 15,105 робіт із 157 країн світу. Двоє учнів Монастирищенської спеціалізованої школи № 5 , Кучеренко Дарія та Лебеденко Анастасія (вчитель Кононенко О.В.) представили свої роботи на конкурс. У результаті Лебеденко Анастасія (6А клас) зайняла ІІІ місце у віковій групі до 14 років. Щиро вітаємо нашого призера! Приз та диплом буде надіслано до кінця листопада місяця.

З повним списком переможців та їхніми роботами можна ознайомитися тут
Представляємо есе і бажаємо Насті нових творчих успіхів!

More than Toys
(Original)

Anastasia Lebedenko
(Age 10, Ukraine)
School 5, Monastyryshche

Dear All,

I am Nastia Lebedenko. I live in a small rural town located in the center of Ukraine, 250 km away from the capital city of Kyiv. Nearly 9,000 people inhabit my town. There are no famous places of interest in the town, but you can enjoy very beautiful nature of our district with its clean air, green forests, endless fields and the people who are very hospitable and friendly. We have close-knit families of several generations, keep family traditions, like spend time with our families, dining, walking, playing and going on holidays together and we like our culture that teaches us to welcome anyone open-heartedly and treat people warmly and generously.

I am proud to be Ukrainian. I feel happy when I sing Ukrainian songs or listen to the melody from the sopilka, our national flute, or when they host our national blue and yellow flag at school assemblies, or when my four year old sister and I wear our national costumes on the holidays (We are such beauties then!)

I know how to use culture to make the future better. It is because I have some experience. It all started when one day our teacher invited my class to participate in the international schools Cyber Fair program. We decided to explore our cultural toys. You would say, “Ha, Toys!” But I am not kidding. My granny Katia says everything starts with a toy. Working on the project I realized what it means.

We did a lot of work. In the process of research we had to contact and communicate with different people-parents, teachers, schoolmates, neighbours, a local doll maker and her family, librarians, the local history museum director. We have found out that toys are more than toys. They came into being at the earliest stages of civilization. They are a part of traditional folk art, they express a long national history, national spirit and cultural continuity. Religious beliefs, world view, tastes and local customs are all represented in ethnic toys.

By St. Nicholas Day all our classmates united their efforts and made more than twenty Motankas, our national folk dolls. We decided to visit the little children at a local boarding school and to give them our Motankas as presents. We told them the stories we had learned from the local doll maker and Ukrainian traditions. Our little friends were really excited! It was so moving to see how simple handmade toys could make the children happy.

We initiated the exhibition and research work at the local history museum. When we addressed them they were really very confused that we could not find any traditional toy, any exhibit related so much to the history and cultural heritage of ours. We had negotiations with our doll maker and the Museum Director. As a result they've got a collection of traditional toys made by the Master and by the students of our school.

We also tried to unite the children of other countries to stop folk art decline and start reviving the traditions. We were the first to start iEARN "National Toys" project and encouraged the peers from the USA, Russia, Turkey, Romania, Pakistan, Taiwan, Belarus, Indonesia to participate in this toy making culture. We shared pictures, videos, national toys of our countries. We had Skype conferences with the participants and exchanged Culture Bags via post. It was awesome!

Now I would like to say that simple toys have already changed my life for better: it has already become more interesting. I have learnt much, I have done much, I have made friends with children of other countries. Yes, different peoples have different cultures. But I see that culture can make us friends. And if we become friends now we will have better tomorrow, because we respect and love each other.