About a year ago, one of our supporters, Zuzka Jarošová, came up with an offer that we could organize a meeting of children from selected children’s homes with singer Ondřej Ládek, known as Xindl X. That, of course, seemed as a great idea to us, and in time, we all agreed, that Ondra will visit children in the children’s homes Sázava and Pyšely.
Children from children´s home Sázava were very excited about Ondra’s arrival.
“They couldn’t wait to see him,” says Daniel Martzel, an orphanage educator. “They’ve been preparing and cleaning up for a long time,” he laughs.
Shortly after their arrival, Daniel and his children took Ondra and Zuzana to visit the children’s home to show them how they live here. Ondra asked, where the children go to school, how they are divided in the rooms, or what they do in their free time. He was surprised how beautiful the home was and how kindly it is carried.
Subsequently, they all went to music room, where the children played drums and guitar to a famous singer. They were happy to play together with him, and when Ondra started playing songs for them later on. At that moment, children and educators squeezed into the room, just because they were curious about the famous Xindl X. There was also time for photography and questions of children, for whom the meeting with such a famous Czech singer was a great experience.
“For me, a big thank belongs to Daniel, who took a visit under his wings and coordinated everything beautifully,” says Petra Erguvanli from C4C.
The visit in children´s home in Pyšely was similarly pleasant, only without a visit around the home. Ondra met Michal Němeček, who, within the cooperation with C4C, is teaching the children the guitar, but not only on the classic one, but also on the electric guitar. And it has to be said, that there is definitely something to listen to, and children here have an undeniable musical talent.
At first, there was a certain shyness of the children before Ondra, but fortunately, it did not last long. This time they were also very pleased, when Ondra started playing his songs and also when he provided children with CDs and photos with his handwritten signature.
And we wondered what impressions Xindl X himself was getting from his visits:
Did you have any idea in advance how it looks and goes in children´s homes?
I played in a children’s home once, so I had some idea.
How did you view change after the visits?
Thanks to CH4Ch, I visited two other children’s homes and I have to say that the individual places and life in them are very different. So you can’t say that seeing one children’s home is like seeing all of them.
Are you planning other such activities?
I have some more in my plan.
What do you think of such events? Do they make sense? Why?
I think it’s important to motivate children. As far as I know, a very high percentage of children after leaving do not have happy life stories and do anything that could only change a little bit makes sense.
How did the children seem to you?
I think they were pretty shy. Perhaps it would take a little longer for the to get rid of the shyness and show more of their nature.
Did you find any talent among them?
That can’t be said after such a brief meeting. In addition, I believe there is a five percent talent in music and the remaining percentage represents hard work on yourself. So it’s really cool that those kids have a desire to work such way on themselves, because it will result in more than a raw talent.
What to add at the end? Perhaps only that Ondra deserves a big thank you for finding time for children from children’s homes, as well as Zuzka, who was a great help in organizing and planning both visits. They were undoubtedly a great experience for the children to remember for a long time
Ondra also gave over 100 tickets to his show as a gift to Chance 4 Children, so that children from nine children´s homes could enjoy it.
Ondra, Zuzka, thank you both very much!
Zuzana Šrámková
