Across the Baltic country, around 20 camps will host over 400 Ukrainian children in July and August in an attempt to bring joy to their lives, at least for a brief moment.
As Russia’s war continues in Ukraine, this year marks the third summer vulnerable children from the country have been invited to activity camps in nearby Latvia.
Many of them have lost their fathers, while others have parents who are missing or held as prisoners. They have been deprived of a normal childhood, having to live through massive power outages and nights under air raid sirens.
Yet, despite the horrors of the war most of them have witnessed and the 40C heat, they’re enjoying playing in and around the waters of the river Daugava near the capital of Riga.
“It’s great in Latvia. You can relax. You can relax from anxiety, all kinds of explosions, to forget about the war,” Artyom, a young member of the camp, explained.
“Everyone here is so hospitable. Everything is wonderful,” Danilo, another Ukrainian participating in the camp, said.
Across Latvia, this July and August, around 20 camps will host over 400 Ukrainian children in an attempt to bring happiness to their lives, at least for a brief moment.
“These kids are probably a little quieter because they’ve had this big emotional experience. We try to give them joy,” Raimonds Graube, chairman of the board of the foundation behind the camps, said.
“You don’t have to be a psychologist to see how those kids let loose here because the kids live for the moment.”
“Their dad may have been shot a year ago. They lives for today, and we create that joy. It’s a fantastic moment when you see them forget, even for a moment, the tragedy that is happening in Ukraine,” he concluded.
