Children’s Winter Camp in Vorohta with HUHTC

By Michael Szubelak, HUHTC Volunteer, recent graduate from the University of Western Ontario

Walking in the calm darkness of Holy Christmas Eve (Sviat Vechir) we reminisced about how the day had been devoted to prepare for the evening’s celebration, not to mention the hours spent earlier learning Ukrainian Christmas carols (koliadky) and preparing a traditional Vertep. Most of the morning was busily spent making costumes and props to inject colour and energy into our very best adaptation of Ukrainian Christmas (Rizdvo) traditions. I even endured a crash course in the art of sewing to do my part. All our preparations came together before our eyes as we entered a room, tables set for 100 people. Each table was covered with the twelve traditional food dishes of Sviat Vechir.  In the room’s centre, atop a table stood a sheaf of wheat (didukh).

Children sat around the tables, laughing, chatting, observing attentively as they learned about the rich culture and tradition behind their roots from a group of impromptu actors playing the part of a traditional Ukrainian family – a reflection of the larger family that surrounded them. These were children invited to Help Us Help the Children’s (HUHTC) annual winter camp and beside them sat their teachers and various Canadian and Ukrainian volunteers.

These children travelled from orphanages from all over Ukraine, from east to west, to Vorohta, a small town of about 5000, located in the midst of the Carpathian Mountains (Karpaty) - a short ride to Mt. Hoverla, Ukraine’s highest peak. Vorohta attracts tourists year round and is popular for its winter sports and summer sights, as well as, the region’s Hutsul culture. Vorohta is also the site of annual winter and summer camps organized by HUHTC’s founder, Ruslana Wrzesnewskyj, conducted in a Ukrainian language environment.

The recreational aspect of the winter camp gives the children a chance to breathe crisp mountain air and spend time with new friends playing in the snow. They also participate in a variety of activities including: winter trail hikes; field trips to nearby natural and cultural places of interest such as the Ivan Franko Museum and the ski resort town of Jaremche; art workshops; talent shows; discotheques; human anti-trafficking workshops, where they learn about protecting themselves as young adults in the future; and boyoviy hopak, a form of self defence and free fighting based on medieval Ukrainian tradition embodied in Ukrainian folk dancing. The children also learn to ski on nearby hills. For most of them, it is their first time on skis and everyone is good natured when they see their peers fall onto the forgiving snow only to do the same on their own downhill descent.

The cultural part of the camp program is tied to Sviat Vechir and the Vertep, a staging depicting the Nativity scene mixed with aspects of Ukrainian folklore and everyday life. At this year’s camp, two Vertep were prepared, each with forty children. After Sviat Vechir, we visited people in the town to perform our Vertep, recited New Year’s greetings (vinchuvania) and sang koliadky for attentive audiences. The next day, these children learned the value of volunteering, singing koliadky and handing out gift bags to appreciative listeners in a senior’s home and local hospital.

The camp ended after a short, but very enjoyable eight days (Jan. 3^rd-10^th), where new friendships were cultivated and old bonds strengthened. At the typical small town vokzal, the children climbed aboard their trains home having had experienced their culture’s rich Christmas holiday traditions – memories we hope they will pass on to their families in the future.

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