Recreation for War-Affected Children: "Voices of Children" Foundation Together with the Olena Zelenska Foundation Organize a Summer Camp in the Carpathians

Author:

Mariia Kucova

This year, the "Voices of Children" Charitable Foundation (CF) will hold a summer camp in the Carpathians with the financial support of the Olena Zelenska Foundation. The participants of the "Voices Camp" will be children aged 10–16 who have suffered from the war, in particular those from the de-occupied and frontline territories of Ukraine.

In total, 4 two-week sessions of the "Voices Camp" are planned for this summer. The program is designed to create a safe place for children and teenagers to communicate with their peers, receive psychosocial support, develop their talents, boost creativity, and make new friends.

A study conducted by my Foundation, the "Future Index", has uncovered alarming statistics — over 40% of children in Ukraine today live with indicators of potential Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In particular, these are children who have experienced war, lost their parents to war, children of internally displaced persons (IDPs) or those living in the frontline areas. The project by the "Voices of Children" Charitable Foundation is specifically created for the recovery of such children. Indeed, leisure and recreation are among the effective ways to safeguard our children's psyche from the traumatic impact of war,
says Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine and founder of the Zelenska Foundation.

The "Voices of Children" Charitable Foundation has been running children's camps for the past 3 years, with a total of 1,675 children participating.

Our goal with these camps is to provide children with resources to counteract the traumatic effects of war, to be attentive to their needs, and to help increase their resilience in new conditions. The value lies in deeply immersing children in a psychosocial environment. Everything matters here: the program that includes a multitude of activities aimed at children adaptation; being among peers with similar experiences; and the opportunity to rely on an adult who has professional knowledge and can help them navigate new experiences in a safe, non-toxic manner. This year, thanks to a valuable collaboration with the Olena Zelenska Foundation, the "Voices Camp" will provide children with a safe space for recovery and support,
notes Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder of the "Voices of Children" Charitable Foundation.

Children and their parents who participated in last year's camps reported that it helped them find some peace from worries, open up, and make new friends.

Since 2015, the "Voices of Children" CF has been providing free psychological support to children and their families affected by the war, as well as individual humanitarian assistance to families and communities. Since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, the Foundation has helped about 80 thousand children and parents.

This is not the first project of psychological support and rehabilitation for children by the Olena Zelenska Foundation. Last year, we funded three sessions of the "Gen.Camp". Also that summer, we organized a vacation for over 1,200 children from large foster families in the Carpathians, and we continue this program this year. Therefore, supporting the "Voices of Children" CF is another important initiative of the Foundation in the direction of recovery and rehabilitation of children,
shares Nina Horbachova, director of the Olena Zelenska Foundation.

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