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Once upon a time, there was a neighborhood in Iasi, Romania. And in this neighborhood was a street lined with castles topped with pink and yellow turrets. Red and blue birds flew among white, fluffy clouds. And a little girl’s face was smudged like a palette of pastel-colored chalk. It was an unusual day in the neighborhood, for there usually are no castles. Rather, the buildings are homes for low-income families. But for one day, the Kiwanis Club of Iasi, in cooperation with police and fire departments and St. Nicolas church, colored the scene with a fairy tale landscape by sponsoring a sidewalk chalk-drawing contest. Squatting in front of horizontal, square “frames,” the children created imaginative scenes that fit the competition’s vacation theme. Kiwanis, fire and police department, and church representatives knelt and crouched too, offering advice and occasionally applying extra color to the concrete canvases. “The children felt stimulated by the involvement, the creative aspect, and the competition,” says club president Ovidiu Toma. “The impact on the parents … but also on the neighborhood was fruitful, as the event received good media coverage.” The day concluded with a distribution of gifts, food, diplomas, and prizes. |
Intent on her work, a child ends up coloring her face as well as her sidewalk square.