General
Foundation Oekroe started end of 2002 with the aim to work with young people in Eastern Europe. During 2003 three large summer camps for kids were organised in Ukraine. Ever since many young and somewhat older people are engaging themselves for the less advantaged of western Ukraine.
The children are very much looking forward to these summer camps. What those camps could mean for the Ukrainian children you could read here. Based on three summer camps we could give around 200 children a fantastic holiday and they could meet the best Friend they could wish! In each of the camps about 7 Dutch youngsters take care of the organisation. They are being supported by Ukrainian staff. The Dutch participants are engaged in the preparation straight from the very beginning 8 months before the actual event takes place. Raising money, team building, inventing games, etc are tasks that have to be completed in advance.
The camp fee for Dutch participants doesn’t exceed € 500, -. This money is only used for travelling to and from Ukraine, accommodation and food en-route and within Ukraine. In case in hindsight the cost per person has been lower, participants get back the differerence. They could of course donate this surplus money to child relief.
"water balet"
A lot of money is needed to finance the summer camps themselves (rent, food, translators, mandatory medical care on site, etc). Prices (converted into euro’s) have increased considerably in Ukraine! There are two reasons for this: the fluctuating exchange rate between the Hryvnia and the Euro and the inflation in Ukraine which is higher than in the Euro zone. This implies that the costs for three camps are now around €30,000 while earlier this was €25,000. We try to raise the money via donations by private persons and businesses, who warmly support our activities, as well as through special actions and finally by raising money personally by the participants.
Camp Ukraine 2012
Camp Ukraine will be held for the tenth(!) consecutive year from 23 July until 7 August 2012. See also the camp diary 2011 and the photographs to get an impression. The first and last two days will be travel days for the Dutch participants. The group will travel to Ukraine by (borrowed) minibuses. Possibly part of the group will fly to Budapest airport and cover the remaining 400 km with a rented minibus. 12 Dutch participants have registered themselves as leader for Camp Ukraine 2012. Three camps will be held at different locations with 60 - 70 Ukrainian kids/teenagers each.
1 of the 3 summer camps will take place on top of a hill in the vicinity of the town of Lavki, north of the city of Mukachevo. This former KGB camp, which has been completely refurbished during the last 10 years, is up to western standards. The staff sleeps in 4 person rooms with normal beds and their own shower and toilet.
The second summer camp will be held in a training centre 'Nehemia' at Uzhgorod. This centre is being used since 2001 for seminars, conferences, staff and leadership training, mentoring and counselling. There are units consisting of 2 sleeping rooms for 6 - 8 people with shower and toilet. In the vicinity is a forest. Link: www.nehemia-team.de
The third camp will be held just outside Klenovets in 'Bethanië', a former kolchoz (a large collective farm) that is being adopted since several years to become a location for summer camps. The terrain is reasonbly flat. There is a lot of space around the central building. There are plenty of opportunities for a bad weather program (if needed like during Camp Ukraine 2010).
Oekroe is a Christian foundation and its main purpose is to tell the kids the gospel. The spiritual part of the camps will largely be taken care of by Ukrainian staff (due to the language barrier). The Dutch staff will take care of the (re)creational part of the camp for which communication takes place in English either or not via a translator (English - Ukrainian). The Ukrainian kids do speak a little bit of English as well, hence in practice the language barrier doesn't really exist.