VOLUNTARY ACTIVITY

A child’s stay in the hospital is always a source of great stress and anxiety. Fear of the unknown, fear of pain, and separation from loved ones. When I organised various activities for healthy children in my studio, I saw how much joy it brought them. How fascinating it is to discover calligraphy and work with a quill that needs to be dipped in an inkwell to write! Writing letters on lined paper. With a quill pen! Everything was an adventure. What a joy it is to make a little book with your own hands and to discover the medieval world during the sessions. We thought then that we would try to spread this joy to children who have to cope with many difficult moments during their hospital treatment.

Since 2014, together with a group of volunteers, we have been organizing workshops for young patients. Since the end of 2024, we have been running these classes as the Manuskrypt Foundation. You can read more about this Foundation

The workshops take place regularly at the St Louis Children’s Hospital on Strzelecka Street, in the children’s psychiatric ward.

We offer the children various calligraphy and art classes, which help take their minds off the illness that has brought them to hospital, if only for a moment. Our workshops often draw on themes from manuscripts and the medieval world. Examples of the classes we run:

THE YOUNG SCRIBE—workshops during which children have a chance to learn how the practical aspect of a medieval scribe’s work looked. They write letters with a goose quill and metal-nibbed pen. They practice writing letters in line guides in order to write their name.

NOTEBOOK IN GIRDLE BINDING—During these workshops we show children how a book was produced in the Middle Ages. Each child sews the leaves, prepares the cover, glues all the parts of the book together and finally manufactures a small notebook in with a girdle binding.

BEASTS FROM A BESTIARY—During these workshops we talk about medieval bestiaries, which were compendiums of knowledge about various real and imaginary creatures. We cut out various animals from cardboard and the children decorate them.

ANGELS FROM CODICES—During the Christmas season we help children to make angels. The patterns of the angels in these classes are taken from various medieval miniatures.

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GOOD NEWS POST OFFICE

We tell the children about the history of the postal service and the value of handwritten cards and letters sent to one another. We design our own postcards and stamps. We set up a ‘Good News Post Office’ in the classroom: the children write positive, encouraging messages to one another.

A JOURNEY TO THE WORLD OF ELVES

Children learn to write using the Tengwar alphabet, created by J.R.R. Tolkien for his fictional universe in books such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. They learn to write using a quill dipped in ink. At the end of the session, the children make a bracelet for themselves with their name written in Elvish.

MORSE CODE

We tell the children about Alfred Morse’s invention and how Morse code was used for many years to communicate, including for sending SOS signals. We learn to read and write using this code. The children also learn the principles of transmitting messages over long distances using hand movements.

BRAILLE ALPHABET

We talk about the alphabet that enables blind people to write and read text. We raise awareness of the needs of blind and partially sighted people. The children try their hand at reading and writing in this alphabet.

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