The last sixth mobility in Serbia, from June 26 to June 29, 2024

The following day began with a reception by the mayor of Šabac, who welcomed our guests and organized a gathering in the City Hall. You can see impressions of this event at this link: here!

After the reception at the mayor house, the group went to the Šabac Library, where the exhibition of works received for the fourth literary contest Give me a word to paint it was officially opened. Sveti Sava Primary School traditionally organizes this competition together with the Šabac Library for all primary and secondary school students with disabilities. This year, 422 papers were submitted
from over 100 institutions and over 80 cities in Serbia and the region. The exhibition was opened by our famous writer Stefan Tićmi, whose literary character Akiko was borrowed for our drama play The Blue Planet at the End of the World. In this dramatic text, the main character is a non-verbal boy, Simeon, who has autism and who communicates with the other characters through drawings. The theater play served as a motive for painting this year, and the actors were elementary school students
who managed to convey the message of love and unconditional acceptance to the little artists who responded in huge numbers to this year s competition. The literary contest Give me a word to paint it is an important cultural event both for the city of Šabac and for Serbia, considering that the number of participants is increasing every year. It was designed from the beginning ,in 2021, only for children who follow the inclusive model of education and all those who are educated according to IEP Level 1/2. This competition is unique in Serbia because it unites literary, stage (theatre) and artistic creativity for children with disabilities with the purpose of pointing out their differences, peculiarities and talents. This year we even had several sculpting works by children who are visually impaired, but can work with their hands and shape clay and plasticine.

Empowered by this literary and artistic competition, we dared to write our first international project From disability to visibility, and with this project we envisioned that the guests of the last mobility would be more actively involved in the final stage, in order to witness the talents of children with disabilities from Serbia. After the exhibition, all the guests who came to the award ceremony, together with the mobility guests, went to the school yard of Sveti Sava Primary School, where we,with the help of parents, students and teachers, began the final phase of the mural on the 65-meter-long wall. Mr. Wall was a workshop that gathered a lot of participants and lasted for an incredible three days, from June 26 to June 28. Creative concept on the wall were imaginated by Gordana Hajdin who is the author of most creative part of this workshop. In the first phase, we had the preparation of the wall, then the base, coloring, drawing, then coloring again and the final phase in which all participants left their mark, in their own special way. We worked from early morning until late evening and everyone gave their best. On the last day, we were joined by our acclaimed writer Dejan Aleksić, whose story was an inspiration for this venture. The neighborhood helped, random passers-by came to take photos, and finally Mr. Wall  got its final look. Apart from our guests from abroad, all school employees, students and their parents participated in the workshop. At the very beginning, it seemed to us that painting the wall was an impossible mission in such a short period of time, however, when so many people joined in, this incredible endeavor got its epilogue in the form of a great mural that is impossible to convey with a single photo, so we invite you to see for yourself the beauty of Mr. Wall which is no longer ashamed (rhymes in Serbian language),
as in the story of Dejan Aleksić at the following link: Here!

The meeting ended with the distribution of certificates and joint dinner where impressions of the previous two days were summed up. The guests did not hide their enthusiasm for participating in all the activities, especially those contained in art workshops where they had the opportunity to create together with colleagues from the project, high school students from Macedonia and students from Sveti Sava Primary School. The last day was also special beacuse we were joined in the workshop by guests from other cities of Serbia who came to the opening of the exhibition Give me a word to paint it  and everyone made their personal contribution to the creation of the mural. This was an excellent opportunity for guests from the project to be convinced of the incredible talents of these children who are faced with some kind of disability.

All participants were amazed by the final results of the workshop.On the last day, we saw off our guests. The groups that came with their own transport left in the morning, and those who arrived by plane left later the same day. Each group had its own host who accompanied the guests to the airport. We expressed gratitude to each other for the unforgettable experience and desire for cooperation in some future projects. We are still summarizing the impressions and getting ready for conferences and other events that we will realize in the coming period in order to disseminate the results of the project. Looking back at the reactions of the participants during the creative process, traveling and socializing, we sincerely believe that this is an unforgettable experience for all participants!This project is important not only for the local community, but also includes a wider aspect of the societies of all participating countries because it has a positive impact on students and persons with developmental disabilities, not only in the education system, but in society as a whole, which has been one of the main goals of this project.