Diaspora teens run Ukrainian summer camp during war
Pretending their families are safe at home, for a brief month Jewish kids in Ukraine get to behave like children
For a month this summer the sounds of laughter, hareidi pop tunes and classic Jewish camp chants could be heard coming from an obscure campground in the Zhytomyr Oblast in Western Ukraine.
In the region mired by war and conflict, Camp Yeka, short for Yekatrinoslav (as Dnepropetrovsk the city where the camp was originally located was formerly known) provided a fun respite to Jewish children living in the embattled Eastern European country.
A group of Chabad Hasidic boys in their late teens and early 20s, came to Ukraine to run the camp for local children this summer. They hosted over 100 boys between the ages of six and 17 from 15 cities across Ukraine and the Crimea.
For one month, the campers, many of whom hailed from cities on the front lines of the conflict such as Donetsk and Kharkov, could enjoy a lull from the tension that has embroiled the region since February. Ukraine has been in turmoil since late last year when protests set off a series of events that led to the ousting of the president in February, and subsequent clashes between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
The conflict has claimed thousands of lives in the last six months, and showed no signs of letting up as Ukraine marked their 23rd Independence Day last month.
But for one month at camp the biggest stress on the campers minds’ was beating the opposing team at soccer.
Chaim Leiter, 22, of Efrat, Israel directed the camp this year and says that though he has been involved in running the camp for a number of years, he received a lot more interest this year from families eager to send their kids and give them some time away from the war.
In line with the Chabad modus operandi, young men like Leiter and head counselor, Yisroel Eichenblatt, have been travelling from around the world to run Camp Yeka since 2000. Synagogues and Jewish centers from cities across Ukraine send their children for a month of swimming and sports mixed with Jewish cultural activities.
But this year was different. With the crisis afoot Leiter was concerned that registration would be down. He was also worried that a firebomb at a Ukrainian shul, and the shooting of the Jewish mayor of Kharkov a few months before camp would deter parents from sending their children. But it didn’t: Pre-camp registration saw an unprecedented high, and though in past years a number of participants often drop off after registration, this year every registered child came and stayed.
‘The kids definitely felt safer at camp. nobody wanted to leave’
“The kids definitely felt safer at camp. nobody wanted to leave,” Leiter said. “Every year there are a few kids that leave, they get homesick or their babushka [grandmother] misses them and wants them to come home. But this year, nobody left. Every kid stayed to the end.”
The campers started the day with line-up, followed by shacharit morning prayers and a breakfast of bread, eggs, salad, and kasha. Leiter said that this was a luxury for most of the kids who come from very poor background. Daytime activities included swimming, sports leagues, arts and crafts, learning Jewish texts and challah baking — which often turned into more of a flour-war.
Maxim Yesipovich, a camper from the Krivoy Rog region said his highlight of camp was the “great schedule, trips and cool counselors.”
Leiter says that during the camp itself it mostly felt like any other year.
“We were cut off from what was happening in other areas. When the Malaysia airlines plane was shot down, we didn’t even know about it until much later.” he said.
Despite the distance, the crisis was not completely off the campers minds and the counselors said a strong patriotic vibe permeated the camp. The kids sang Ukrainian songs and decorated T-shirts and yarmulkes during arts and crafts with the Ukrainian flag and “Slava Ukrayini” or “Glory to Ukraine.”
“If a kid wanted to make fun of another kid,” Leiter said, “he would call him a separatist.”
‘If a kid wanted to make fun of another kid he would call him a separatist’
Eichenblatt says that this year in particular there was a really special atmosphere at camp. “Every year it’s good, but this year it was incredible.” he said, “The kids were just so happy to be there.”
Because most of the kids come from orphanages scattered around the country or very low income households, the camp only charges 800 Ukrainian Hryvnia ($60-68, depending on inflation) at the time of registration. The organizers rely mostly on grants from local organizations such as the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish Community, as well as fundraising in the United States to cover costs.
This year the counselors launched grassroots fundraising campaigns in their hometowns in England, the US, Israel and Venezuela, raising money through selling T-shirts and cold-calling people in the community. Many counselors used money from their own pockets towards the camp.
Following camp, the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS, which owns the campgrounds, turned the facility into a refugee center for Jewish families fleeing high danger zones.
The Times of Israel Community.