The first camp shift in Safe Place ended with a smile and a lot of impressions ☺️
Ten children from the occupied Tokmak have become close friends with our entire team during the stay. That’s why we are sad to see them go, but we are keeping the bright moments.
Together we visited many interesting places in Lviv and beyond. We saw exhibited animals at the Zoological Museum of the Ivan Franko University and played with real animals at the Skarbova Hora Ranch. We created wood crafts at Open Lab Lviv and danced break dancing at Urban Camp Lviv. We drew on a media board at the Youth Center and learned to firefight at the State Emergency Service University. We thank everyone for this opportunity to give children from the frontline areas a carefree holiday.
The basis of our camp for IDP children is psychological work. Every day we hold evening circles where children talk to psychologist Galyna in a relaxed atmosphere. They talk about their impressions and expectations of the new day in the camp. Galyna becomes a true friend for the children, who, as a matter of professional duty, keeps all their secrets. If necessary, the psychologist communicates with the children in private. In addition, everyone has a Safe Camp diary where they record their work with the psychologist.
The children are also supervised by tutors who are future psychologists and social workers from the University of the State Emergency Service. Svitlana, a health worker, monitors the children’s physical health and informs parents how they feel today. This comprehensive approach is extremely important when working with IDP children and helps them feel comfortable in the camp.
In the future, we are planning 5 more shifts of the Safe Camp, where we expect more than 50 IDP children from the frontline cities of Bakhmut, Svitlodarsk and Gulyaypol. All children will be accommodated in the Safe Place shelter.
We thank the University of the State Emergency Service in Lviv and Vice-Rector Ivan Movchan for their help with tutors and instructors and comprehensive support.
Let’s keep working and create a Safe Camp!
