About Help Us Help The Children
In August of 2004, Help Us Help The Children - Pryateli Ditey, held its annual summer camp for Ukrainian orphans. The volunteers came from Canada, Ukraine and the USA. Many of the Ukrainian volunteers were "stipendiaty", orphans who have completed high school and moved onto college and trade school (where they are supported by stipends from and Help Us Help the Children and UCARE).
More than 500 hundred children traveled many miles to spend two weeks in the clean mountain air of the Carpathian Mountains. They came to a town Vorohta, nestled in the mountains near Hoverla, the tallest mountain in Ukraine. They were then split among four sites; two for the younger children (ages 12-15) centered in buildings in sports bases in or near town, and two for the older children (ages 16-18) held in tent camps in the mountains.
The official language of the camp was Ukrainian, and efforts were made to instill national pride in camp participants. This included Ukrainian crafts, music and traditions, and training in kozak martial arts ("boyovyj hopak").
Last years camp theme was an international one. Every day the children awoke in a new country. At the morning zbirka they would raise the flag of that country (along with the Ukrainian one) and listen to its anthem. The komanda (camp leaders/staff) would dress in national costume, and tell the children a bit about the day's country. Before going to breakfast, all the camp's participants would have to pass through a mock-embassy to get the camp passports stamped with visas.
During the course of the day, during their maysterni (workshops) and their free time, the children would learn more about each day's country.
One of the most popular maysterni was "Business", where our campers learned about starting and running a business. Each group (hurtok) was given a loan, with which they started their own business. Some opened cafes; others started up hair and nail salons and laundry services. Others prepared and delivered varenyky, pizzas, coffee, tea and cappuccinos. One group sold photo CDs of camp, this, with more than 1000 photos on a single CD, was the most labor intensive and profitable project. Our campers learned how real business works; after paying for supplies, franchising fees, loan repayment (and in one group, mismanagement of funds!); the profits were much less than gross income. A few campers started their own free land projects (water delivery from the dzerelo/ spring and in-room massages) and made a tidy profit.
In health education the campers learned about hygiene, first aid, smoking, drug and alcohol addiction, and AIDS prevention. The latter is a particularly important topic as Ukraine has the highest rate of AIDS infection in all of Europe (there is currently a 1%-HIV infection rate, or about 500,000 cases, and this number is growing exponentially. If the current growth rate continues unabated, the infection rate will be about 7% in 2010, similar to that in many hard-hit areas of Africa).
The children's health was looked after in other ways. On the first day of camp, all of them underwent a medical exam, and acute medical problems were treated. Those with significant dental problems were sent, on a daily basis, to Ivano-Frankivsk, were a volunteer dentist treated them. Every base had at least one volunteer doctor to look after coughs, colds and other aches and pains, to stitch wounds and to provide TLC.
Overall it was the hope that the program provided the children with a variety of new life skills while promoting greater awareness of themselves and the world around them.
