Educational Catch-Up Camps “Easy Camp”
The years of war have had a significant impact on the educational process in Ukraine. The transition to online learning, limited opportunities for socialization due to isolation from peers, the experience of forced internal displacement, as well as constant stress, fear, and uncertainty about the future, hurt children’s mental and physical health. Added to this is the challenging, traumatic experience. Since 2014, some have had to move home several times, while others have lost the most essential things in their lives—their parents, relatives, and friends.
In wartime, the priority in working with schoolchildren is to ensure their safety and psychological stability. Another critical area of focus is catching up on educational losses, as constant shelling, blackouts, and air raid sirens significantly impede the quality and stability of learning. Some children cannot attend their local schools, have been studying online for years, and have limited resources and opportunities for socialization and communication with their peers.
The “East-SOS” educational team created “Easy Camp” catch-up learning camps to solve the challenges described above. These camps serve as a tool for encouraging learning and simultaneously give children back simple childhood moments, friendship, discoveries, and vivid impressions.
The project aims to create a safe and supportive environment for children’s emotional recovery and personal development by organizing a camp that offers interactive learning, cultural and educational activities, and meaningful leisure experiences. These will all contribute to improved academic knowledge, communication skills, and social interaction.
A team of organizers, teachers, mentors, and psychologists helps camp participants catch up on their education, restore their psychological and emotional well-being, and improve their communication skills. All camp sessions take place in one of the cozy corners of Zakarpattia, where children can feel temporarily safe and return to a childhood without war. Such a location is significant, as the camp is mainly attended by internally displaced children, children of fallen heroes, and those who are in captivity. The camp’s theme is world travel, and each day is dedicated to a new country: France, Korea, Estonia, Ukraine, India, Italy, and Greece.
The first half of the day consists of lessons in core school subjects—mathematics, history, Ukrainian and English language, and literature. The second half is devoted to team games, workshops, sports competitions, excursions, and other entertainment. Daily mentoring reflections help create a safe space of trust. Each of the ten days of camp is filled with memorable moments that will remain in the participants’ memories forever.
Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonian Centre for International Development, Secours populaire français
MTÜ Mondo
July – August 2024
July – August 2025
300 seventh-grade students from Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zhytomyr regions
Due to the war, some children are deprived of the opportunity to study full-time. Unfortunately, this issue is not easy to resolve, and in some areas, it is simply impossible. As a result, the format of educational camps offers a partial solution for children from regions like Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, and others, where the security situation prevents even a mixed-format approach to education. Our pilot project aims to test whether periodic offsite educational camps can help make up for educational losses. During the first session, we observed how much the children missed their full-time education.
Maria Huliaieva, Project Manager (Mondo)
It is both an honor and a joy for our team to organize this camp.
Mykola Overchenko, Manager of the Foundation’s Educational Department
We have created a safe environment where children can learn and relax. The participants have the opportunity to discover new horizons, engage in active communication, and acquire skills that will benefit them in the future.
Children are growing up in a time of war and living in frontline areas. Our team’s mission is to create comfortable and engaging conditions for their recreation, balancing their emotional well-being and fostering easy socialization. I teach the children basic self-help principles, discuss how to respond to different emotional states, and help them learn to recognize and differentiate between those states.
Olha Frolova, Psychologist Involved in the Project
At school, I was very interested in literature, and I really enjoyed writing texts. I think I will continue doing these exercises at home since I didn’t have enough time at school. I imagined something completely different, but this experience exceeded all my expectations.
I made a lot of friends here. Yesterday, everyone was crying because they didn’t want to leave. We hugged each other, and it was clear that everyone had a wonderful time.
I met a lot of people because I enjoy socializing, and these people are really great. I have a fantastic time at school, and I love Ukrainian language and history. It’s amazing! Mr. Yaroslav and Mr. Dmytro are excellent teachers.
In our class, if you make a mistake, the teacher can humiliate you. But here, even if you say something wrong, it’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes, and you can always correct them. That’s why I was able to work harder—no one will say anything bad. If you fail, you can succeed next time, and if you succeed, you’ll be praised.
I really liked the Olympics, the teachers, and the school. It was very different from my usual school. The teachers were very kind, and everything was done in a fun and playful way.
Camp Participants
Donors
