My Summer Camps – An HUHTC Success Story

By Yaroslav Stetsenko

The first time I participated in the Help Us Help the Children Summer Camp was in 1998, held in Vorochta, Ukraine. At the time, I was a Grade 8 Student at Kerch boarding school in Crimea for orphans. A trip to the other end of the country, when you needed to change trains and the whole travel took one and half days, was something wonderful for me. For us, it was as exotic as it probably was for Americans flying to the Moon. Some people might say that I exaggerate, but my answer is that I do not.

Do not forget that it was a very difficult time for Ukraine. In the boarding school, we did not have normal food and clothing, the electricity was often turned off, and there was no heating in the winter. To go from Kerch to Feodosia or Simferopol (3-4 hours by car) was a wonderful trip, but we were going to the Carpathian Mountains! For all of us, it seemed that we were going to another world. As we discovered later, we were not wrong.

The route to Vorochta, on its own, was a separate adventure. In Dzankoy, a town in the northern part of Crimea, a group of children from the local boarding school joined us on the train. They were also going to the Camp. As the journey progressed, many more children joined us and it turned into a small camp on wheels. We ate together, chatted, and played with other passengers. It was fun!

Then it was Kherson. We had to take another train from there to Ivano-Frankivsk. Children from the Kherson boarding school joined us at the train station. Also, children from Curupinsk were boarding the train in Kherson. Curupinsk is a special boarding school for orphans who have many different physical disabilities. Their disabilities initially shocked us. When I saw these children for the first time, I could not say a word. The sight of them was a very sad picture, but soon we all got to know each other and it appeared that the children were very interesting, lively and friendly. We helped them  carry their luggage and a strong bond was formed. After that time, it became a ‘tradition’ each year for children from Kerch to help children from Curupinsk in Kherson.

The journey to Ivano-Frankivsk was long, but fun. The whole train coach was ours! We shared food, got to know each other, chatted, did not want to sleep at night and talked to Ukrainian-speaking conductors from Lviv. It is necessary to inform you that all of us were Russian-speaking and for us the Ukrainian language, to be honest, was exotic. Of course, we heard Ukrainian on the radio and TV, we could read it and so on. But to hear the language from a live person, not as a language lesson at school, and also with that special Lviv dialect, was something!

In the morning, we arrived in Ivano-Frankivsk. It was the place where all boarding schools had to meet. We went to Vorochta from there by bus. The Camp flew by so quickly. Two weeks in the Carpathians were unforgettable. The first thing that amazed us, were Ukrainians from Canada and the United States. Their manner of speaking, behaviour, friendliness and openness touched us very much. It was different from what we were used to. It is necessary to point out that the language of the Camp was Ukrainian. For me and for many other children from Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine, it was a unique chance to hear and try speaking Ukrainian over a prolonged period of time. To be honest, it was hard at first, but soon we got into it pretty fast. At least all of us learned the language at school and started remembering our Ukrainian lessons.

The camp program was varied. We participated in a multiple of interesting activities. We played different sport games including those, which we saw only on TV, such as baseball or golf. We climbed Mount Hoverla and biked in the Carpathians. We were in the town of Yaremche and other places, whose names I do not remember. Moreover, we had Christmas! Yes, real Ukrainian Christmas, though it was summer. The organizers of the Camp even negotiated with a local priest and we had a  Divine Liturgy in Vorochta’s church. There was a Ukrainian priest from Canada, who was very lively and an interesting man, and together with Vorochta’s priest both said the Divine Liturgy. We had our Holy Supper with the traditional twelve dishes, threw kutya to the ceiling and finally we understood the meaning of Christmas.

It is possible to write a lot about what was going on at the Camp. When we arrived, all children had a medical check-up, and many of us got our teeth fixed. There were doctors from Canada and Ukraine as well, working at the Camp. All children got new clothes, shoes, and travelling equipment. We were fed very well, and we even saw some food for the first time - it was fun eating marshmallows!

We returned from the Camp full of positive emotions and good memories.

I am now 25, working at the National University in Kharkiv, teaching Mechanics to our Ukrainian students and those from Africa and India, while still running my own research. This summer, I am going to the United States to continue my education; it so happened that I won an Edmund Muskie fellowship. After my first HUHTC Summer Camp, I returned there every year. Each camp gave me something new; acquaintances, knowledge, and skills.

We were led to believe in ourselves, that we were good, talented children, valued, and having something to offer in life. We could study and be successful. We were amazed that people volunteered to come from the other end of the world to help us. Some people cared about us! For the first time, we realized that somewhere in Canada and in the United States, there are also Ukrainians who stayed faithful to their homeland and wanted to participate in Ukraine’s reconstruction. And what could be more important than children, moreover, orphans?

In 2002, I became a student and moved to Kharkiv. My adult life started. However, HUHTC Summer Camp remained an important part of my year. Each summer, I went to Camp as a volunteer. There were many like me, former orphans, who started their real life but did not forget about their past and helped as they could at the camps. Moreover, the children and the Camp were at our fingertips. Trusted and accountable, we tried to justify that trust as much as we could.

I met my first love at the Camp. Now, she is my wife and I am very thankful for the fate and happen-chance to be in that place at that time. It is possible to talk and write about the Camp without end. So much happened there, that it is not possible to describe everything in one article.

Finally, I would like to say ‘thank you’ to Ruslana Wrzesnewskyj, Alla Halych, Valeriy Chobotar, all the volunteers from Canada and Ukraine, people who actively participated in the camp organization. Without the support from everyone who donated in Canada, the US and Ukraine, I most probably would not have been able to write this article, either in Ukrainian or English. Also, I would not have met my wife. And furthermore, I would not believe in myself, something that was instilled in us by the camp experience.

Thank you to all of the camp organizers and supporters!

Yaroslav Stetsenko is a postgraduate student in Theoretical Mechanics and TMM Department Assistant, M. Zhukivsky National Aerospace University “KhAI” in Kharkiv, Ukraine.  

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