Cannonballs and grilled-cheese sandwiches: Ontario summer camp helps Ukrainian kids keep war at bay
Pictures by Carly Thomas
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, a bunch in Ontario’s Northumberland County helped 31 households who fled the battle settle within the space, about 120 kilometres east of Toronto.
Now, a few of the youngsters who got here to the county are about to begin a new college 12 months in a brand new nation.
Organizers with the group Northumberland for Ukraine Households determined to ease that transition by giving them one thing enjoyable to try this would permit them to get again a little bit of the childhood the battle robbed them of.
A CBC Information crew visited the camp in in Grafton, Ont., as about two dozen youngsters leaned in to their final days of summer season freedom.
They took half in all of the traditional camp actions, gathering round campfires, singing songs and taking part in video games, similar to elimination.
Lunch time
Whereas the kids performed exterior, their mother and father and different volunteers pinched perogies contained in the camp kitchen. Meals on the camp have been a mixture of traditional Canadian camp fare, similar to grilled-cheese sandwiches, and conventional Ukrainian meals. For the mother and father, it was an opportunity to attach and discuss their plans to probably open a restaurant in a close-by city.
Lunch occurred in a eating corridor embellished with banners made by earlier campers. The campground is owned by a Canadian chapter of Plast, a Ukrainian scouts group based in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1911.
‘I’ve to maneuver ahead’
Alexandra Demyda, one of many mother and father taking part, was a flight attendant in Ukraine for 18 years. She simply received her food-handling certificates in Ontario and says she’s decided to make the most effective of her new life in Canada along with her two boys.
“I can’t cry on a regular basis,” she mentioned. “I’ve to maneuver ahead as a result of these guys ought to have a future for positive, and they’ll have it. So, so long as we’re right here already, why not?”
Recreating ‘a brand new bubble’
Olena Prokopchuk, 15, and Vasylyna Kremeniuk, 13, turned quick buddies after making the same harmful journey six months in the past from their properties to the Polish border. They’re making an attempt not to consider the horrors of battle and deal with highschool, which they’re beginning this month.
“Scary!” mentioned Kremeniuk.
However it is going to be much less scary if Prokopchuk is by her facet, she mentioned.
“Once you develop up in a bubble of 1 nation, and you progress the world over, it form of bursts that bubble,” she mentioned. “And having folks to recreate a brand new bubble with you helps lots.”
‘They only get to be youngsters’
Olena Hankivsky, one of many driving forces behind Northumberland for Ukraine Households and the camp, needed to verify the kids had a enjoyable buffer between their arrival in Canada and the beginning of faculty.
“We now have quite a few youngsters that weren’t smiling very a lot after they first got here,” she mentioned. “They weren’t doing a lot of something.”
“And to see them right here simply smiling and being youngsters, I believe that is actually what it is all about. They only get to be youngsters and overlook about the whole lot else for some time.”
Nik Krememiuk, 8, hammed it up after a cannonball within the pool. He mentioned most Canadians like hockey, however he prefers soccer. He preferred that folks on the camp spoke Ukrainian and English.
“I am not unhappy,” he mentioned. “As a result of I’ve a brand new life.”
Campfire’s Burning
Lots of the youngsters on the camp got here from properties the place each Russian and Ukrainian is spoken. In the beginning of the week, they took a vote and determined the one languages they might use can be Ukrainian and English.
At evening, the campers carried out skits and sang across the hearth. On the evening CBC visited, they sang Campfire’s Burning in Ukrainian.
For a lot of, the camp was a spot to embrace their new nation, whereas honouring the one they left behind.
A bunch of youngsters from Ukraine soaked up some summer season enjoyable at an Ontario camp, which helped them settle into their new nation whereas additionally honouring their homeland.
