As is now customary for ELF, we have asked children to design our Christmas card. This year, our artists are a group of 3 to 5 year old students from the Scuola Primaria Giovanni Battista Vico (section L) in Rome, Italy. They have designed the lovely card that you see above. We hope that 2023 will bring the world peace, health and serenity, but also a big smile like the one painted by our talented artists. As for ELF, we will relocate in 2023 from The Hague in the Netherlands to Rome in Italy. We will continue to be the same organisation, with the same values and objectives. Only our location will change, and that is the reason why this year’s artists come from the Eternal City. Season greetings and happy 2023!

Continuing our tradition, we asked again a young artist this year to make our Christmas card. The artists are three siblings from Zimbabwe: Tristan (8), Trey (5) and Samarah (3) Nyamanhindi.

 We gave them full liberty to make a drawing about how they see the world now that we are approaching Christmas. The result of their incredible creativity can be seen in attachment. As an explanation of this masterpiece, they told us that they felt people had suffered enough and they need love, peace and hope for a better tomorrow.  There is a heart and the dove carrying an olive branch, and in between those two symbols there are some stars to light up the world, and they are in different colours because, as our young artists said, people come in different colours, but they can each bring light and hope.

 We thank our three great artists for presenting us a galaxy of peace straight from the hands of three children, with the sincere hope that Christmas can bring love, peace and hope.

Last year, we asked Alejandro Escobar (7 years old) from Venezuela to provide a painting for the European Lawyers Foundation Christmas card. His painting reflected the hopes of a child through the difficulties his country was (and is) going through.

This year, we have asked another young artist (Ottilie Taylor, 5 years old) to design the 2020 Christmas card. The watercolour painting below shows how a child understands this difficult 2020: a group of Christmas penguins that are walking (hence the black footprints) on an almost melted (orange) snow. Above them, it is not the sun that has managed to melt the snow, but a fierce and big representation of Covid-19.

Even if the painting represents the challenges the world is facing (pandemic and climate change), the penguins do not give up and are ready to celebrate Christmas. With her picture, Ottilie sends a clear message to all of us: that we need to stand up and face these challenges as a group and without losing hope. And lawyers have an important role to play in this!

Season’s greetings from the European Lawyers Foundation!