From Camp to Camp to Camp...

Camp season has started and we've been busy.  Our 1st big camp at the kids Rehab Centre finished this past week and tomorrow we start another camp at the dorms downtown.  I've also been helping out at camps at a couple of the public schools.  This past year a door has opened where we can go into these schools to talk about love and be good examples as well as do some activities with the kids.  So I've literally been going from camp to camp to camp.

These camps are having an amazing impact on the kids as well as the staff of the schools and institutions.  One really good story happened at the Rehab Centre camp.  One morning as we were preparing for the day our leader Lena T. came into the room in tears after talking with somebody on staff.  We thought something was wrong since we were already talked to for a small issue they had.  (Apparently one day our room wasn't as tidy as they wanted.)  Once Lena composed herself she said that the staff member was telling her about 2 boys who came to the centre a couple of weeks before we came with camp.

I'll have to back up a bit here and give some background about the centre.  The Rehab Centre when it opened was for boys who had drug addictions, hence the name.  Nowadays it's sort of a transition place for boys and girls when they're 1st taken from their families for the same reasons that kids get put into foster care in Canada.  The kids will live at the centre until their family life can be more stable and they can go back to their families but if that's not possible they will be transferred to another orphanage.

So these 2 boys came to the centre and were not adjusting to their new reality very well.  They were deemed as being aggressive by whatever standards are used here.  We hadn't noticed anything like that.  The staff member told Lena that because of our camp these boys were smiling for the 1st time, settling down and were having fun with us.  It was amazing to hear that.

Now we're looking forward to an amazing time at the dorms camp as well as the other camps this summer.  Stay tuned.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.  Thank you for seeing my heart.  Till next time...я люблю вас!!

Our theme this year is "Finding the True Treasure"

Our Team for the Rehab Centre camp

The little boy in the picture is one of the boys I mentioned.

The Rehab Centre kids.

The school camps team.

This school camp was a lesson in planting seeds of love where we planted flower seeds in the school's garden.

We heard that one of the schools didn't have a proper ball to play with.  Some schools have no budget for this.  So we went and bought them 6 balls and a pump.  I don't know who was happier...the kids or the teachers.

School trip to a play centre...

...you didn't expect I'd be sitting on the sidelines did you?  :)

In this school camp the kids were asked to draw their families.

Gearing up for Camp Season

It's been a busy couple of weeks getting some things done and getting some activities in before the camps start.  I celebrated my birthday a week early using it as an excuse (not that I needed one) to take some of the folks from the Boorie Ooglie disabled home on an outing to McDonald's.  Then my friend Tanya B. made it even more fun by showing up with balloons, party games and a Happy Birthday banner.  It was so much fun for me to see them having fun.  When I went to see them again this past week at the home, to treat them with bananas and candy, some of them were still talking about my birthday.

Other than my birthday celebrations we've been busy planning and preparing for the camps (we call these DVBS in Canada).  Then the other day a bunch of us took a day trip to the camp in Krasnovka village.  This is a summer camp that was set up to fill a void so that disabled teens and adults can go to summer camp and have a time away from the institutions.  The void being that in Ukraine all kids get to go to camp as well as the younger disabled kids but the older disabled ones have little or no opportunity to go.  A few years ago Ira K. with Loads of Love purchased a farm in Krasnovka and converted it to a place where these folks can get away from the city to relax, get some decent food and fresh air as well as get some quality time.  They also have various activities and a DVBS programme.  This camp has done wonders in enriching the lives of those who wouldn't otherwise have such an opportunity. 

So as we gear up for camp season that's the latest of my goings on for now.  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.  Thank you for seeing my heart.  я люблю вас!!

Banana and candy delivery to Boorie Ooglie

Preparing for camps

At Krasnovka Camp