A teacher who has worked with Ukrainian refugee children for the past few months is now trying to finance a summer course for the children by selling a book. The aim of the course is for the children to be children.
Teacher Markús Már Efraím works with the organisation Flottafólk, which has facilities in Guðrúnartún where a community center for refugees is operating. There, people have been able to meet and eat dinner and gain access to various necessities. In addition, the organisation has assisted people in their search for housing and employment, reports Vísir.
Markús’ job has mainly been to plan trips and events for the children.
“We took 140 people on a day trip to Vatnaskógur, we took them to the Arena to play video games, the Rush trampoline park, movies and horseback riding. The goal is to allow the children to be just children. Many of them came here very upset and not all were in school this spring. It’s about breaking up the day with them,” says Markús.
Next week, he is planning to hold a creative summer course for the children.
“We will be out playing games, taking photos, learning to express ourselves with stories and poems and getting artists to visit. The intention is to visit some of the Ukrainian artists who have come here,” says Markús.
He adds that the activities for refugees, which can be found on the website helpukraine.is, are not only intended for Ukrainian refugees.
“The organisation started because of the situation in Ukraine, and many who work for it have a personal connection with the country. Of course, all refugees are welcome, but we have mostly been introducing this to this group,” he says.
To finance the creative summer course, which will be free to attend, Markús plans to sell the book “Something Evil Along the Way” by nineteen young and aspiring writers for 1,500 ISK.
“This is a side project for me. I have been teaching creative writing for many years, and this book came out. I thought it would be ideal to finance the course by selling the book,” says Markús. The book can be ordered via the email address markusmefraim@gmail.com.
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