Summer Camps Ukraine 2017 – Enjoying the summer in Ukraine (Updated)

By Koen Carlier.. Vacationing in Ukraine is a little different than most of us are used to. We book a flight, a cabin, or pack up a tent and take our family to a sunny destination. We might even go to another country. In Ukraine you often spend your vacation at a camp. When the schools close their doors, the camps open their cabins and tents for a great children’s programme.

Participants of one of the 2016 Ukrainian Summer Camps

The local Jewish communities in Ukraine are also making an effort to give children the opportunity to go to a camp. Camp is a great time for children. They play games, go on scavenger hunts and have talent shows.
But there is a serious side as well. Throughout the whole programme, it’s clear that this camp is for Jewishchildren. You can see this in the themes of the programme. Israel is one of the themes. In a very laid back way, children learn lots of things about the land of Israel: how it came to be, that they can go and live there when they’re grown up, or go there now if their parents want to.

And then there’s also a side of the summer camps that the Jewish communities won’t point out much. The children are often from poor families. Stress from the ongoing war is added to this in the East of Ukraine. For this reason, the Jewish communities would really like to serve healthy and nutritious meals at these summer camps. It really makes a difference. And that’s why we are helping with this. Then thousands of children in Zaporosje, Bela Cherkov, Mariupol, Odessa and Zhytomir can have a wonderful summer. After the summer, they can start a new school year refreshed and strengthened, and maybe start dreaming a little of a future in Israel.

Will you help? Your contribution is very much appreciated…
Three meals a day cost 3 euros.

These children in the city of Bela Cherkov in Ukraine enjoy 10 lovely days at the Jewish school during their summer holidays. Many of these children cannot go home during the summer, because their parents are not able to take care of them or because they do not have parents anymore. Christians for Israel assists several Jewish schools in Ukraine by providing meals for the children. 

Watch some more photographs of the 2016 Ukrainian Summer Camps below.