“To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness, it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate. Never be ashamed to let your tears shine a light in this world.” ― Anthon St. Maarten
You’ve all heard the expression, “When Pigs Fly,” right? It’s an idiom that is typically used to express an impossibility. But today I am appropriating it for Song Flight and making “When Birds Fly” a new way to declare what IS possible! When Birds Fly, it is possible to do something about a terrible situation - the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine took the importance of helping children develop emotional intelligence (EQ) to a whole new level for me. I’ve known for a long time that children who are raised to compete, compare, and believe that some are better or more deserving than others (the basic foundation of most industrialized education systems) grow into adults who are judgmental, lack empathy, measure their success based on how much money, power, and prestige they have and see others as impediments to that success. We are seeing this reality unfold on a massive scale in Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2002, initiating a massive exodus of women and children. Eight months and 19 days later, more than half of Ukraine's estimated 7.5 million children have been displaced by the war. This includes more than 1.8 million children who have crossed into neighboring countries as refugees and 2.5 million who are now internally displaced inside Ukraine.
To say that Ukrainian children are in desperate need of social-emotional as well as physical support is a huge understatement. “But what,” I wondered, “could we do to help?”
The answer to that question came while I was thinking about what kids have taught me over the past 14 years. The one thing that always stands out is the way they work together to make an idea or project better. For example, when I was looking for a project to go with my book, The Not Perfect Hat Club, the kids in a special ed class in NY suggested we make and sell hats. They came up with a pattern, raised money to buy materials, borrowed sewing machines, and made the hats themselves. And if that wasn’t enough, they sold over $800 worth of hats in their local community.
So you see, the answer was right in front of me. What we need is a way to enable kids to reach out to, learn from, and collaborate creatively with one another. We need “Song Flight.”
What in the World is a Song Flight?
Song Flight is a global initiative that uses stories, songs, and creative collaboration to connect Ukrainian children with other kids around the world. That’s the simple, elevator speech I was asked to prepare for my presentation at an online conference this weekend. In reality, Song Flight is much much more and it’s going to take a community of talented and committed people to pull it off.
Which, my friends, is where you come in. Song Flight will be broken into three phases:
Phase I - Fundraising and Team Building
Phase II - Test Runs: We’ll do two, small pilots to work out any bugs and get proof of concept so we can go to investors and sponsors.
Phase III - Create the Song Flight playbook for a global launch
None of the above, however, will be possible without your support. And by support, I mean helping us spread the word so we can find and pay the team we hope to build.
Where to Start?
Song-Flight.com has a comprehensive description of what we’re tackling:
A wish list of the people, skills, and equipment we’re looking for
A simple way you and your kids can get involved
A wall of gratitude (because make NO mistake some pretty amazing people are already involved), and
Links to our fundraising efforts
Over the next few days, I will be posting a recording of my presentation at the conference, sharing some of the incredible people who have been lending their gifts to make Song Flight a reality, and a date for the official launch of Phase I.
In the meantime, please familiarize yourselves with the project, share this post with as many folks as you can, and send me any ideas, feedback, or introductions to people and organizations you may have. And remember:
Hugs!
Jena
Copyright 2022 by Jena Ball. All Rights Reserved.
And exceedingly excellent plan, Jena! Looking forward to hearing the recording of your presentation at the Conference!!