Displaced children find solace at Point Camp
In the village of Vyshka in Zakarpattia, Western Ukraine, kids’ laughter echoes through the deep valley. The youthful cheers can be attributed to the displaced children between ages 6 to 16 who gathered at Hungarian Interchurch Aid’s autumn camp in the Carpathian Mountains. With ACT Alliance’s support, experiences of carefree childhood and mental healing are fostered among the 150 participants who have already experienced the harsh realities of war at a young age.
All of them had to flee their place of origin and have adapted to life away from their familiar home. Some of them, unfortunately, do not have homes to return to. Mykola* is one of them. The 12-year-old boy’s hometown was occupied, and his school destroyed in an airstrike “I miss my school very much, and I really want to just run with my friends on our soccer field after school. I continue to study in the same school online, but e-learning is so boring! I like running and playing with the ball. Here at the camp I was taught how to play basketball. I enjoy it here!”
And indeed: the sports field of Point Camp bounces with the laughter of children jostling under the basketball hoop, a testament to the vibrant energy that flows through the camp. Through individual and group exercises and quests, camp leaders Oleksandra and Dmytro try to provide respite to these displaced children while also improving their mental health. “Each workshop and evening sharing circle, where children reflect on their feelings experienced during the day, reveals deeply hidden negative emotions related to the war and the loss of relatives, friends, or relocation to another city”, says Oleksandra about the camp’s daily routine.
Thanks to the time spent together, it becomes easier for the children to deal with the difficult situations they are facing at such a young age. “Almost every night, the girls and I gather in the room and share our secrets after the lights out at the camp. I am not as lonely as I used to be. I lost my best friend in my city when my parents and I left, and he and his family stayed there. And I don’t know his whereabouts ever since. But my new friends in the camp support me and say that they went through the same things,” says Olena, a 15-year-old camp participant who was forced to leave Mariupol under shelling a year and a half ago and has since been living and rebuilding her life with her family in Uzhhorod, in western Ukraine.
Camp leaders not only conduct psychological workshops aimed at raising the emotional intelligence of young people, but also give children the freedom to express their creativity. On the first day, each squad is tasked with group work – to unite and come up with a squad name and then draw the squad emblem and name on a poster. Creating a sense of unity in their squad, the kids rally behind names like Funny Geese, Mriya [dream], Carpathian Krumpli [potato] and Shawarma. “It helps them to get to know each other, show their abilities, and is a good practice for us leaders, too. We can see which of them are natural leaders, and which are shy and keep to themselves. This helps us in finding the right approach to each of them” – explains Anton, himself a leader of a squad.
In the absence of Wi-Fi and the constant buzz of technology, the camp encourages a return to the simple pleasures of life — nature, genuine human connection and the joy of carefree play. The children have full freedom to express their energy: after a delicious lunch of homemade dumplings, this energy bursts out in the form of a hip-hop dance. ” It helps to digest the food better,” says Oleksandra, the camp’s coordinator, smiling and joining in the group jumps to the rhythms of modern hip-hop artists playing from a portable speaker.
As the sun sets over the village of Vyshka, shining a warm light on the faces of these brave children, it becomes clear that this camp is more than a rest stop; it is a shining light of hope, a promise that even in the face of adversity, hope and healing can flourish. The wooden houses stand as silent witnesses to the resilience of these young hearts, resonating with the laughter that now fills their days, replacing the echoes of war that once haunted their nights.
