HIA summer camp for Ukrainian children provides respite from war trauma

In Hungary’s capital city Budapest and the idyllic village of Kastélyosdombó located in the south of the country, Hungarian Interchurch Aid is organising summer camps for around 200 children coming from all over Ukraine. In addition to providing a great variety of exciting recreational programmes, these camps also put great emphasis on processing the traumas of the children who had to live through so much. Originally from Bucha, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Donetsk and Kherson and their surroundings, they now have the chance to participate in games and group activities providing respite from the horrors of war, even if only for a short time. As well as giving children the opportunity to have fun with their peers, it also relieves parents – for some of them, for the first time since the start of the war. Activities include not only different crafts and sports activities like football, darts, cycling, “live foosball” but also many outdoor adventures, hiking trips, a boat excursion on the biggest lake in Central Europe, the Balaton, as well as a falconry show, VR-games and even some games with the aim of learning a bit of Hungarian. All of this is made possible thanks to a broad coalition of actors: businesses, churches and humanitarians. E.ON Hungária Group is the main sponsor of both locations, with very significant contributions from Christian Aid, HIA’s british partner in ACT Alliance and the fundraiser “Híd Kárpátaljáért”.  Furthermore, HIA is cooperating with the Lutheran Diaconia of Hungary and the Piarist Highschool of Budapest in the organisation of the summer camps in Budapest.