Credit: Julia Yamkova
On Monday 18 July 2022, LUkraine asbl, a local non-profit organisation representing the Ukrainian community in Luxembourg, opened its new summer camp for Ukrainian refugee children in Leudelange.
Monday saw the start of the first term of the LUkraine asbl day camp, named "Super U", for the children of Ukrainian refugees in Luxembourg. A total of three such terms are planned, with the camp running until the end of August 2022. The camp takes place in the municipality of Leudelange, in the scout chalet "Schwengsweed", which was provided by the municipality with the support of Alex Ganzen.
The camp will run daily from 09:30 to 17:00. The children are provided with two snacks and a hot lunch from Sodexo through the personal involvement and catering support of one particular employee of the company, Philippe Nicolet, Business Development Manager.
About 145 children will participate in this camp. These are children, from different regions of Ukraine, who were forced to leave their homes, friends, ordinary and daily routines because of Russian aggression and the resulting ongoing war.
"The development of projects for children is one of our priorities as the Ukrainian association of Luxembourg. There are about 1,500 Ukrainian children here who have had to flee due to the war. Our aim is to make them feel comfortable and forget all the terrible things they had to go through, to help them adapt to their new life in this country.
The summer camp also provides a safe space for newly arrived parents, often mothers who have traveled to Luxembourg alone with their children, to focus on their job search or attend language courses while their children are being taken care of", said Inna Yaremenko, Vice-President of LUkraine asbl.
The camp aims to not only entertain but also educate the children. Various topics are embedded in the camp programme in order to help the children familiarise themselves with Luxembourg: its culture and history, symbols and holidays, ecology and recycling, volunteering, scouting and so on. Sports, creativity, dances and songs are also on the agenda. The team of animators will try to show these children, who have been through the trauma of war, that a world that is carefree, fun and full of friendship still exists.
"I believe that there is no better way to spend the summer than to be with your peers. Learn to make new friends, to win and lose, to support, ultimately to discover new hobbies and talents. There is no better place to do this than a summer camp. We named our camp 'Super U' because we strongly believe that every little kid is a superhero with their own superpowers and we adults simply need to give them a cape and a little help!" , added camp leader Elena Berkovich, who runs this project.
Nicolas Zharov, President of LUkraine asbl, recently announced and shared his thoughts on this initiative in an interview with Chronicle.lu.
