Articles written by Help Us Help The Children volunteers
Eyes Wide Open
by: Adrian Snihura
Some people speak of having had an experience of a lifetime. You know the
ones that are supposed to completely change your outlook on life and leave you
a different person. If you enjoy technical terms it's called a 'paradigm shift'. Well
whatever you decide to call it, personally I have never been one to buy into this
sort of stuff. I'm not being cynical. It's just that I have always been somewhat
pragmatic in my nature (I'm an engineer... go figure). Well that all changed
abruptly (and rather unexpectedly) this past August when I had the opportunity to
attend a summer camp for orphaned children in Ukraine. It also happened to be
the 10th anniversary of the camp, which made things all the more memorable!
For the past 10 years Help Us Help The Children (HUHTC), a project of Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund, a voluntary, non-profit charitable initiative, has been dedicated to improving the quality of life of children living in orphanages in Ukraine. Every year HUHTC volunteers attend summer and winter camps for the orphaned children, and visit orphanages, hospitals, rehabilitation centres and medical clinics throughout Ukraine to personally deliver clothing, footwear, medicines, personal hygiene products, as well as educational toys and materials. Since 1993, the charity has delivered $15 million in aid to orphanages in Ukraine. In addition, the volunteers include medical and dental staff that examine and provide care for the children.
Over the past 10 years, around 3,500 orphans have attended these camps. The children come from around 40 orphanages that are located across Ukraine's 25 provinces (oblasts), their ages range anywhere from six years old to 18 years of age. Many of these children are orphans in the truest sense of the word. However, the majority of the children have been abandoned by their parents due to lack of sufficient funds to raise them properly. The orphanages that these 6 children reside in double as their school and are often in horrible conditions and inadequate to provide the care these children deserve.
My life-changing experience (there, I said it) took place in the Carpathian mountains of Western Ukraine, in the picturesque village of Vorokhta. This has been the site of the summer camps for the past ten years. Over the course of two weeks, the children not only had the opportunity to interact with one another outside the typically limited social settings offered in the orphanages, but they also had the opportunity to eat plentifully, play various sports, sing songs, dance, put on plays and performances, and even celebrate Ukrainian Christmas in August (try finding Christmas lights in August.in a small mountain village.in Ukraine!). But more importantly, the children were immersed in various educational workshops (majsterni) throughout the duration of camp designed to help the children when they leave the orphanages.
My role at camp was to organize and lead a computer workshop with a Ukrainian camp councilor named Vasyl Shumsky (Vasyl is an orphan who previously attended the camps as a child, and has recently received a scholarship through the HUHTC (and partners) "Stypendiat" Project to pursue a post-secondary education). We only met at camp so we did not have the opportunity to meet beforehand and exchange notes and ideas.
Before arriving in Ukraine, I put together a brief program of what I thought the kids might enjoy, incorporating practical computer skills such as computer basics, word processing, drawing, making spreadsheets (again, I'm an engineer), as well as some educational games. Truthfully I had no idea what to expect, but I figured most of these kids had very little computer training. After installing all of the computers, I eagerly awaited my young students' arrival (the computers are purchased annually for use at camp and then distributed and installed in the orphanages to enhance their communication capability).
What ended up happening was at first complete chaos! Half of my first class was quite adept at using computers and immediately wanted to play computer games and surf the Internet (unfortunately we had no access to the Internet.but fortunately I had Vasyl). The balance of the class, however, sat there staring at the blank computer monitors not having the slightest idea of what to do next. One of the most memorable moments came when this adorable little six year old girl with a look of complete bewilderment on her face proceeded to tell me that this was the most amazing thing she had ever seen and done in her life! I replied, with some restraint, but nonetheless a huge grin on my face, "Wait till you see what happens when you turn the computer on!" Priceless!
Another interesting yet completely ad hoc idea for the computer workshop emerged after a few days at camp and the camp councilors started pleading Vasyl and me for a place to store their digital photographs. We obliged, but the kids soon discovered the multitudes of photos and seemed to be overjoyed at finding and looking at themselves and their friends in the photos. So Vasyl and I started teaching the children how to make little identification badges for kids with their personal photo and name, which also served as great mementos of the camp (and also sucked our limited supply of colour ink cartridges completely dry). My ID badge pictured myself teaching a six-year old boy named Kostya how to draw his name on the computer. After an hour's effort, it was an accomplishment for the both of us!
There were also other types of workshops, including those about personal and social development that teach the kids about spiritual, social and psychological self, teamwork, the dangers of substance abuse, hygiene, nutrition and first aid; sports activities such as baseball, soccer, volleyball and hiking; self-defense workshops for both the girls and boys; arts and crafts workshops; and practical workshops such as the business workshop to teach the children the value of money, and the sewing workshop to teach the children a trade (HUHTC also provided the orphanages with electric sewing machines).
These types of educational workshops have emerged as a direct consequence of social changes in Ukraine. One of the emerging workshops, although unfortunate but desperately needed, is aimed at preventing the escalating victimization of boys and girls into the sex slave trade and drug worlds after leaving the orphanages (after the age of 18, the children are no longer the responsibility of state care in Ukraine).
Another new and interesting workshop, which was of particular relevance to the recent presidential elections in Ukraine and the ensuing Orange Revolution, was the staging of a mock presidential election to teach the children about democracy, human rights and civil society. The children were all eligible to vote and select from several presidential candidates that were selected from amongst the camp.
Help Us Help The Children is also turning its attention toward reforming the orphanage system and integrating the orphanages into the public school system. I anticipate that future workshops might include one pertaining to the environment that would teach children about ecology, pollution, waste disposal and recycling (there is a lot of garbage strewn about haphazardly in Ukraine) and sustainable development. Another workshop may pertain to teaching children about volunteerism and goodwill, a completely foreign concept still to most living in Ukraine.
The camp ended on a high note and in spectacular fashion as the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, and his wife and children, ardent supporters of Help Us Help The Children, attended a large outdoor concert for the children. In a speech to the children, the president promised them that they will not be abandoned by the Ukrainian government and that he will investigate and punish those that have abused children in orphanages.
The concert featured song and dance performances by a few of the children themselves (ho are absolutely talented and completely fearless to perform in front of huge crowds), as well as special guest performances from Ruslana (Lizhichko), who was the winner of last year's Eurovision contest, and the rock band GreenJolly.
Although it was difficult leaving the children behind, I felt completely recharged after camp, and had a completely different outlook on life! Being around such amazing kids is fantastic! They really are great, despite all the adversities they have so gracefully and humbly endured! So, writing this now as a converted non-believer, I would recommend this camp to anyone looking for a dramatic change in their life. I know that I would definitely do it again, especially being a Canadian of Ukrainian background. Now if I can only convince my boss to take some more time off work.
