Summerhouse – chilren rights protection summer camp

Youth NGO “M.ART.IN-club” by financial support of Eurocomission carried out an «Summerhouse – chilren rights protection summer camp». A purpose is a rekreacion and rehabilitation of children from the groups of risk and children with the special needs. More than 50 children escorted by care-takers during 10 days lived in a tent camp, located in a pine-wood in a neighborhood of village Schurovo ashore the Blue lakes.

Young clients of the Children rights protection network from Makeevka, Donetsk, Lugansk, Alchevsk and Severodonetsk became inhabitants of the camping.


In the program of summer camp were forum-theater, training about the children’s rights, sport events, swimming in the lake, practicing music, walks in the forest, role games, songs at a fire. Children set small tent town, prepared food on a fire and learned to combine an anxiety about the domestic necessities with careful attitude toward nature.

Due isolation of the camp from the “outer world”, children were able to know each other from different sides, and the workers of Children rights protection network got possibility to influence their lifes more effectively. For the most of the children a summer camp was the unique possibility in a year to breathe clean air, to warm up on sand and to swim in clean water. Also they were learning to protect their rights and to live according the moral principles and common norms of behavior in society.

Eight volunteers from different countries of the world took part in the summer camp. They made presentations of their countries – each day was dedicated to some culture: children learned traditional cuisine, greetings and some general phrases in the language of the country (Spanish, Chinese, Hakka, Korean, Turkish, Czech, German and English).

Sport program included morning exercises, breathing practices, yoga, martial arts and health promotion program. Also were hold some soccer games.

Training program consisted of forum-theatre, team-building, drum-playing, music lessons (flute, guitar) and choir.

- We were expecting to learn children apprehend their life as the result of their own behavior, to let them understand, that they can change a lot in their life if they will make an efforts. We tried to learn them to observe and to control their relations with surrounding people and occurrences. Children were learning to understand, that some of those help them, but some – disturb, - explains the president of NGO “M.ART.IN-club” Victoria Fedotova.

Communication and making-fun in the summer camp also became a big part of social rehabilitation of children. Sitting around the fire ang singing to the guitar children enjoed meeting people and conversation.
Some of the kids the first time in their life chopped firewood, for someone the swimming in the Blue Lakes was the first swimming in the natural rezervoir.
In one of the last days the inhabitants of tent camp mage global forest cleaning. Children picked up more than 15 big refuse bags.
But the biggest impression on children produced an night quest. Three teams were looking for the hidden treasure In the darkness. Lead by hints and intuition, they performed inkredible tasks, demonstrated speed of response, dodginess and deftness. After two hours of searching the teams decided to combine their efforts, because they understood, that only so they can achieve success. The award for the brave young people were the watermelon and the big box of sweets.