It was a difficult time. The world was in the terrible clutches of the pandemic, and people were on the verge of losing hope. With a chance act of Maša who rolled a piece of paper around a kite line and let it fly into the sky we suddenly realised what we kite flyers can do to offer hope to get hope, to share hope. And so the Strings of Hope initiative was born.
We took our kites to the sky and honoured frontline fighters – nurses, doctors, scientists, teachers, farmers, IT wizards, journalists, entertainers and the like. We shared intimate Messages of Hope from people who were afraid, who were fighting the disease, who were faced with loss and devastation – but remained firm and determined. We remembered those who were forever gone.
We found hope.
We realised hope can never be really lost.
We got in touch with kite flyers around the world and the Messages of Hope started pouring in – and flying high. We got Mayors and Ambassadors, we got Speakers of Parliament and all kind of celebrities writing Messages of Hope – and they flew into the sky above Slovenia, India, Tunisia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, USA, Netherlands, and many many more.
We were on a roll – of hope.
Kite flyers of India suggested that Strings of Hope could be a part of celebrating the great holiday of Makar Sankranti (a.k.a. Uttarayan), and together we organised a huge kite flying festival – virtual, of course, due to ongoing pandemic. But kite flyers of the world were not intimidated: over 200 kiters from 45 countries from every continent except Antarctica participated in what was the largest ever virtual kite festival in the world.
The Strings of Hope brought all of us together:
