VOLUNTEERI HELP US HELP THE CHI
MAXYM D From January 1st to January 10th the Ukrainian-Canadian organization Help Us Help the Children (HUHTC) had its annual winter camp. This organization started 25 years ago as an effort to help children in Ukrainian orphanages and has grown to an organization that hosts camps attended by almost 500 children every year. In addition, they have done incredible work offering scholarships to graduates of the orphanages in order to further their education. This year, I attended the winter camp as a volunteer along with a dozen other volunteers from Canada and the United States. I will briefly speak to some of my most impactful experiences at the camp including the gratitude the kids showed and their stories.
generously donated by people in Canada throughout the year. Kids happily received people’s old coats, t-shirts, hats, gloves, pants, boots and other warm clothing. Some of them would go on to exclusively wear what they received on the first day the whole time. Starting on the second day, regular activities began with groups alternating between skiing and taking part in workshops designed to help young adults succeed in the real world. At camp, I was a ski instructor and was assigned two groups that would ski with me on every other day. My first group consisted of Виталі (1), Виталі (2) and Свєта while my second group consisted of Владік, Муйсьі (Moses) and Сиргій. During my three days instructing each set of kids I was able see both their gratitude and cheerful outlook along with learning of their sad backstories. Some of the kids had no parents, others were placed in the orphanages because their parents had issues with substance abuse while one of my kids was a recovering methamphetamine addict at the age of 16. Despite these adverse conditions, all of
The camp’s home base was in a Soviet Era ski jump facility in the village of Bukovel. Despite the dated condition of the facility, the orphaned kids were always grateful and appreciative that they had the opportunity to attend the camp. This gratitude would repeat itself throughout the camp. Upon their arrival, we also handed out clothes to the kids. These clothes were all
16 UKRAINIAN CANADIAN STUDENTS’ UNION
VOLUME 61, ISSUE 02
