Educational Drama Specialist Kate Brown pictured presenting a series of childrens stories to the Childrens Ward at Letterkenny General Hospital, as part of the I am I Story Making Project during the One Donegal Cultural Diversity Festival. Also pictured with Kate are: Esther McDaid (staff nurse), Christine Scott (staff nurse), Kate Brown (Educational Drama Specialist), Una Jordan (Play Specialist), Una Winfield (staff nurse), Siobhan McElhinney (staff nurse). Photo: Paul McGuckin
AS PART of this month’s One Donegal Cultural Diversity Festival, a beautiful collection of children’s stories was donated to Letterkenny General Hospital on Saturday, November 3.
Donegal County Council’s programme of events for the festival is well under way with something for everyone, in every part of the county.
The stories donated to the hospital were written by children aged three to six, as part of a week-long story making and play project called I am I, created and facilitated by Kate Brown in collaboration with artist Alfie Gallagher.
Kate visited Letterkenny’s new Accident and Emergency Department and the Children’s Ward last weekend to officially hand-over the story exhibition.
The I am I exhibition has been on temporary display in a local library since it was created as part of last November’s Festival.
Kate said: “With many of our libraries throughout the county now unfortunately either operating under scaled down opening hours or having to close their doors altogether, I was worried that even with the best of intentions, the exhibition would end up gathering dust in a corner somewhere. We have been considering a permanent re-homing for quite some time.
“The stories offer us a window into the world of the children. They share with us their special times – of places they love to visit with people they love, of things they love to do or would like to try, of times when they were proud of themselves.
“There were no children on the ward when I was there on Saturday, so I don’t know the reaction to the exhibition yet. I hope that everyone, children, their families and hospital staff will take as much enjoyment from reading the stories as we had creating them.”
The I am I project was supported by the European Union’s Regional Development Fund, through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Donegal County Council.