The human suffering in Türkiye and Syria is overwhelming. Like so many others, artist Theo Dombrowski wants to help — somehow! For the months of February and March, he will donate all funds raised by selling paintings through this website to the Canadian Red Cross for disaster relief.
Could a gouache painting of a peaceful local landscape or a playful watercolour of a joyful dance contribute, indirectly, to helping people whose lives are so far from peace and joy? Every little bit helps.
The paint’s barely dry on Theo’s latest painting. Will these guys make a splash? They’re hoping — no, hopping — to rescue a young Syrian refugee by helping to raise her sponsorship fee. Yes, she’s the sister of a Pearson grad (Tam from year 44, 2019), the one we’ve told you about already. All profits from any of his paintings sold through Theo’s website will go to this fundraising drive right up to Tam’s deadline, just over two weeks away.
Free-diving sealions, questioning jays, and cantering ostriches have little in common. They have even less in common with the danger in which a young woman finds herself as a Syrian refugee in Lebanon. However, Theo Dombrowski’s November fundraiser brings these all together. All profits from these new paintings — and any others on his website sold during November — will be donated to Tam Jundi’s campaign to rescue his youngest sister and include her in the sponsorship of the rest of their family (https://savemysister.ca/).
Anyone familiar with the achievements of the Nature Trust in preserving precious ecosystems in BC will understand instantly why Theo Dombrowski supports them. And anyone who knows Theo will recognize one of his means of support: he paints landscapes for them on request, often views of the very land subject to a campaign for preservation. Today the Nature Trust launches its fall online auction including Theo’s painting “Coast Range”. Have a look at its auction!
This year he has also donated a painting specifically of the Englishman River estuary, commissioned by the Nature Trust to give as a thank you gift to a major donor who helped with preservation of environmentally significant land.
The present Nature Trust fundraiser is the most recent among several by truly worthy organizations to request a painting from Theo in support of their goals.
For the month of May, the proceeds from every painting bought from Theo Dombrowski’s website will go toward Save Saima’s Family, an urgent fundraising campaign to sponsor the family of a recent Pearson United World College graduate to come to safety in Canada. They are in grave danger: they have been particularly targeted by the Taliban for their activism on human rights and the education of girls. Today this portrait of a child will join other portraits, landscapes, abstracts, and fantasy pieces on Theo’s website.
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For the month of May, proceeds from any of Theo Dombrowski’s artwork sold through this website will be donated to an urgent campaign, to help rescue the family of a recent Pearson College graduate from extreme danger. Members of the Hazara minority, the parents have been specifically targeted by the Taliban for their support for human rights and the education of girls. They have four children in hiding with them in Pakistan. The campaign aims to raise the funds necessary to sponsor them to come to Canada.
To learn more about the family, the campaign, and the steps toward donation, see: Save Saima’s Family.
It gave Theo Dombrowski a real lift to have his work appreciated by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in a feature article on their Canadian website at the end of August. Tracking stories of supporters, the organization asked him to write about why he directs profits from his artwork to humanitarian work:
In this piece, Theo concludes with words that will surely resonate with all readers: “Like everyone reading this newsletter, I have wanted to help others — people who may be otherwise much like myself, but who by bad luck alone have been affected by war, famine or disease. It has been by far the most meaningful part of my retirement that I have been able to tap into my writing and artistic skills to help the work of MSF.”
If you live in the Oceanside region of Vancouver Island, do drop by the Aldea Maya booth at the St. Mark’s Fair in Qualicum on Saturday, July 25. You’ll be able to find out more about the work of this charity in the Lake Atitlan area in Guatemala, notably in giving children a chance to carrying on their education beyond elementary school. You’ll also have a chance to buy some of the intricate beadwork done by students and their mothers.
T
his registered Canadian charity is worth your support. See its website for background on what it has achieved so far, and what it hopes to achieve: http://www.aldeamaya.ca
You can also support the work of Aldea Maya through buying (for $35 or $50) the paintings done by some of the students I taught in April when volunteering in the Chukumuk school outside Santiago Atitlan in Guatemala. See some of these great kids and their paintings (for sale) on the Guatemala page of this website, under Artwork.
best wishes,
Theo Dombrowski
Theo Dombrowski 