Where Children Can Be Children Again: Stories from Ukraine’s Healing Summer Camps

As the war in Ukraine continues, children carry on living through the same harsh realities of war as their adult counterparts. These children are forced to grow up quickly and are robbed of meaningful childhood experiences. Many of them never even get to grow up past childhood, with over 2,520 children killed or injured since the start of russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.¹ Additionally, these children experience pain that many adults have yet to undergo, with the loss of a parental figure affecting over 17,000 children.² 

For this purpose, since 2014, Nova Ukraine has partnered with and pledged its support to camps dedicated to psychological recovery for children and families impacted by the war. Attendees of these camps have the opportunity to heal, connect with their peers, learn new life skills, and, most importantly, have fun.

One of Nova Ukraine’s longest partners, Motley Racoons, has provided children with a safe place to go on adventures, create new friendships, and unwind away from the realities of war. Founded by Olexander Chub in 2016, this camp was inspired by his own happy childhood memories of camps he attended all through his adolescence. Olexander loved attending these camps in his youth but remarked on the lackluster content and activities provided at these camps. He sought to create a place where children could develop their moral values and independence, as well as knowledge and connection to Ukrainian culture. Thanks to your donations, Motley Racoons has been able to achieve the feat of hosting 215 children of deceased defenders in their camp programs. 

Camp GOYRA!, partnered with Nova Ukraine, provides children with the opportunity to backpack across the Carpathian Mountains, disconnecting from the digital world and reconnecting with nature and one other. One attendee of camp GOYRA!, twelve-year-old Katya, recounts her experience at the camp positively, as she ran up to an instructor on her last day exclaiming “I didn’t even know I could have so much fun!” This joyous account from Katya is even more heartwarming when considering the trials she lived through. Katya is described as a shy girl who initially had trouble talking to other attendees even when it was simply to ask a neighbor at the camp for more space in a shared closet. Confiding to an instructor, she recounted the harrowing experience of a rocket landing near her home in Kherson, smashing windows and injuring her mother. But throughout the program, Katya eventually opened up to new friendships, played board games, and participated in dancing at the last night’s celebration event.

Katya is not alone in enduring the horrors of war up close, another child, also from camp GOYRA!, fifteen-year-old Nicole, casually described her near-death experience while hiking with her mentor saying “suddenly there was a bright flash. At first, I just saw it, didn’t even realize what it was, and then I heard a sound. A Shahed exploded right in front of my window.” Despite her experiences, Nicole is still described as an active and cheerful girl, and this retreat was the first she attended in her whole life. On her final day upon leaving the camp, she cried, hugging all the instructors in a touching gesture of farewell.  A couple of weeks after returning home from the camp, a mentor wrote to her asking about her plans for the next summer, to which she wrote in response “I want to come to your camp again, if possible.” 

In addition to camps GOYRA! and Motley Racoons, Nova Ukraine partners with camp TUR, also known as Turistic Ukrainian Family, which held a two-week-long retreat for children and families of fallen defenders. This program was dedicated to improving the mental well-being of participants by encouraging connections with nature, creating arts and crafts, and connecting with each other. Sixty-four participants attended this retreat, with one participant describing their experience by saying “I feel emotionally fulfilled, I want to smile. Calmness and gradualness – I haven’t had these feelings for a long time. Thanks to the whole team for such a well-planned program, providing us with everything we needed.” 

From 2022 through 2024, Nova Ukraine has helped more than 2,800 children like Katya and Nicole, by providing financial support for camps that aid families and children. We aim to continue this support through 2025 with an overall goal of aiding at least 950 vulnerable children and their families.

We thank our partners for all the important work that they do in creating spaces for families to heal and come together. Additionally, we ask for your support in donating to our cause and engaging with our content, to help children and families find joy and peace during difficult times. Our work wouldn’t be possible without all that you do. Thank you!

1. “Three years of full-scale war for Ukraine’s children.” Unicef, 21 February 2025, https://www.unicef.org/eca/stories/three-years-full-scale-war-ukraines-children?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 1 June 2025. ↩︎
2. “More foster families needed for children who have lost parental care in the war in Ukraine.” SOS Children’s Villages, 24 February 2025, https://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/news/three-years-of-war-in-ukraine?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 1 June 2025. ↩︎

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