What’s new in the Zavorychi Gymnasium bomb shelter

B50 volunteers continue to work diligently in the bomb shelter of the Zavorychi Gymnasium. Activists from the Reconstruction project, who are renovating the premises and have already accomplished a lot, and the Shelters project, who have begun decorating the walls, are involved in the transformation of this location.

The transformation of the facility is being funded by ChangeX, a non-governmental organization that has previously included our pilot project Kozachok in its guide. We use the grant money from ChangeX to purchase materials for the repair and decoration of the premises, as well as for the arrangement of the space.

The facility consists of many rooms and passageways. Our task is to transform two small rooms for preschoolers and two large rooms for primary school students, as well as to put in good shape the passageways, technical rooms, and corridors. We are repairing the bomb shelter in stages.

Current results of the volunteers’ work on the Reconstruction project:

• In one of the large rooms, the walls and ceiling have been completely prepared: cleaned, plastered, painted, and ready for painting. The old targets for the shooting range were also dismantled, and new ones were made and fixed (the targets are needed because when the kids are not in the shelter, there is a training range).
• In one of the small rooms, a part of the brick wall was dismantled to connect it with the technical room and increase the area. Here, the remains of the wall were removed, the ceiling was painted twice, the walls were plastered and primed, and the frame for the drywall was prepared. After that, they began to apply paint, which will be the basis for future drawings on the walls – the Jungle World.
• The necessary air holes were made in the rooms and air ventilation ducts were laid.
• To level the doorways, we knocked down pieces of brick, putty and leveled the corners. Since the shelter consists of many technical areas where children should not be, they began to install doors where they were missing for safety and thermal insulation.
• In the second large room, the ceiling and walls are also being prepared: puttying, priming and painting. 60% of the work in this room has already been completed.

Repair tasks that are still ahead:

• Finish the first small room (finish painting the walls, laying air ventilation ducts).
• In the first large room, lay air ventilation ducts and install a door.
• In the second large room, finish the walls, ceiling, and air ducts.
• In the second small room, all the work is ahead.
• In the technical rooms – painting.

Since we are renovating the rooms one by one, we will also decorate them in stages. Volunteers from the Shelters project, who are responsible for the creative concept, drawings, colors and mood in the shelters, have already started to draw sketches on the walls of the first room for primary school students.

The theme of this shelter is Nature. We want to compensate children for the time they will spend underground. The rooms for preschoolers will be decorated with drawings from the depths of the forest and jungle, and the rooms for primary school students will be decorated with large murals with desert and ocean landscapes. The premises will be decorated in pastel colors, which are recommended for kids according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Community, Territorial and Infrastructure Restoration of Ukraine.

We wanted to involve designers in the decoration of the shelter in Zavorychi, as we are constantly developing our projects, looking for new volunteers, partners, and creative solutions. The Ampli teen educational accelerator, a platform that provides professional training for teenagers aged 11-19 in the fields of IT, design, and entrepreneurship, responded to our offer. One of Ampli’s students, Uliana Slutska, creates sketches for the Zavorichi Gymnasium’s shelter. For our part, we gave ideas and references, and Uliana makes layouts for each room, taking into account its specifics. We like this kind of cooperation and are happy to involve young people, bring new ideas and inspiration to the project.

Last weekend, the coordinator of artistic work Polina Koruts already started painting Ulшana’s sketches in the first room. The theme will be the ocean, and the walls will be decorated with the outlines of underwater life. The mural is planned to be large – 2 meters by 7.5 meters.

Drawing pictures on walls is now easier and faster thanks to a New Year’s gift to the B50 community – a projector.

During the next working trips (January 27-28), we will start painting the sketches. So join in the repair and decoration!