Dear Friends,
We have a unique opportunity to unite creativity and kindness for a great purpose.
The talented artist Jana, whose works fill our hearts with light and warmth, needs our help. We would like to invite Jana to visit Rainbow and organise a charity art exhibition of Jana's works. All funds from the sale of her paintings will be used for the treatment she needs today. Yana has been disabled since childhood, and she gives all her paintings to charity. It's time to support Jana herself.
How to support?
- Buy a painting of Jana (write to us in private messages).
- Make a donation of any amount (all collected funds will go to Jana's treatment).
- Tell your friends and family about the programme (so that this kind action gets even more publicity).
We received such a letter in our ‘’Rainbow in Cyprus‘’, and we simply could not remain unaffected:
‘Hello. My name is Jana. I have autism spectrum disorder and severe sensory processing disorder. I was born into a troubled family where both my father and mother were alcoholics. Therefore, I was a ‘’bother‘’ to my parents, an inconvenient child, I did not receive any support, even on the opposite. When I was about 4 years old, I found myself on the street, growing up with children like me, about whom their parents also did not think and did not care. The street taught me to talk, taught me how to get food and taught me how to socialise. My friends on the street gave me the nickname ‘’Weird‘’.
I didn't go to kindergarten, as my mum said - it's no place for mentally ill children. I started going to school at the age of 8. It was very difficult at school - teachers did not understand my needs, did not listen to me, did not know how to approach learning, and I became a problem for them. It was impossible to study at home - my parents were drinking, ‘guests’ came regularly, the house was noisy, smoky and always smelled of alcohol. This was even harder to bear because of my sensory impairment. I studied as best I could - in the basement, in poor lighting. At school, my classmates laughed at me, beat me, hid my things. In 5th grade my father took me out of school and since then I have not attended any educational institution. The street taught more than school. My teenage years and youth were also spent on the street. I didn't drink or smoke myself, my friends on the street didn't force me to. Often there was nothing to eat. However, the hardest part of street life was the death of my friends; the reasons were different: drinking, drug overdose, fights. I lost 7 friends that way, the oldest was only 13-14 years old.
When I was still young, there was a period of my life when I didn't leave my flat for about 3 years. This was not because I wanted to, but because of the severe impairment of social interaction and sensory overload that happens to people with autism. I first left home when I was in my early 20s. But I soon had to move back in with my parents because the old house I was living in went under demolition.The second and last time I left my parents was when I was 35. A woman took me in. Social services paid the rent. I lived in a passage room, I was not allowed to open the window, I was not allowed to close the doors of the room, I was only allowed to shower once a week. The landlady laughed at my paintings, ‘It's useless rubbish!’ In recent years, I regularly heard the phrases, ‘You'll never have any friends’, ‘Nobody needs you’, ‘You'll never amount to anything in life’ ...
I am now 48 years old, I have been attending a day centre for people with autism called Open Doors to Bethany (https://atverdurvis.betanija.lv/) since December 2023 and have been living there since August this year. I am now getting used to something I never had before - being needed and useful. I am learning to accept that I am loved and cared for. I'm happy now because I have Betania and I can be myself and not what others always wanted to remake me and see me as.’
Every purchase of a painting and every donation is a chance to give Jana hope, health and strength to create further!
Together we are capable of real miracles!
*Programme covers:
Accommodation for 7 days
Petrol costs
Meals
Excursions
Treatment and medicines
