Volunteering at Kids’ Summer Camp in Ukraine – Experience of A Lifetime

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I am 29.
I have worked as a Project Manager for the biggest Danish company.
I have traveled to nearly 40 countries of the world from Australia to Finland.
I live in the vibrant capital of the happiest nation in the world.
Why on earth would I need to go spend my holidays working in a kids’ summer camp in Ukraine?
(sorry it came off as bragging but I just needed to make a dramatic intro? ? ?).

The reason I signed up to be a camp leader is that my very good childhood friend Inna is the director of the regional Eurofuture English schools in Ukraine and she’s the one organizing summer camps to extend the learning opportunity for kids outside of the school period.

Inna and me on our first adventure together.

Inna is a very talented lecturer, director, and overall a very active person in all sorts of projects. She was the one who pushed me to do all sorts of stuff when we were kids. From playing ball outside to organizing our own dancing school where we’d teach smaller kids our best moves to the Britney Spears songs. Aside from that, we have also started the acoustic duo band which, let it be known, won a few prizes in local song competitions ? ! In other words, she’d never sit still and would be the one who says “let’s do something!”

So, this time I wanted to tag along on her crazy adventure because whatever she does is fun and I haven’t done any projects with her for a very long time, so it was a good opportunity to bond.

This year, I had time to come and help her out in the camp as a leader of one of the kids’ groups.

Where does summer camp in Ukraine take place?

The camp took place in Slavske village, Lviv Carpathians in Ukraine. All kids and camp staff stayed at amazing Alpenhof pansion with gorgeous views to the mountains, fresh air, and plenty of interesting experiences which you can do on a trip to the Carpathians.

We were fed 5 times a day (all portions of which I ate with enthusiasm due to reasons you’ll read below), had absolutely no free time and plenty of fun activities to do with kids. To make it even more fun, each day had a costume theme related to time travel. One day we were hippies of the 70ies, while the next day we traveled back into ancient Egypt. Apart from events and outdoor activities, we were also teaching kids conversational English, which was the main theme of the summer camp.

View from our hotel

Space Invaders Day

If kids can do this, I can too!

One of the excursions we went on

Working with kids for the first time…

While with the older kids you have to earn their trust. Can you be authoritative? Can you listen? But most importantly – can you listen to their crappy new rap music? ? If you answered yes to all questions – bingo! You made it.

I have to admit, I was scared going to the camp. I’ve never worked with kids before. Aside from spending time with my niece which is 50% sweet and 50% annoying, I had no experience interacting with kids for longer than a few hours.

What if they don’t like me? But even worse – what if I don’t like them?

Contrary to the popular opinion, not all kids are great and some of them might be quite rude or plain boring.

I got the group of the oldest kids (13-16) and one of the experienced American volunteers as a camp lead partner which only made it all the more fun.

I thought it will be easier with smaller kids – they judge by the appearance, if you look cool, you must be cool.

While with the older kids you have to earn their trust. Can you be authoritative? Can you listen? But most importantly – can you listen to their crappy new rap music? ? If you answered yes to all questions – bingo! You made it.

Too cool for school

Return on your investment is immediate

But jokes aside, it is getting through to the kids and learning their personalities, their needs, and insecurities is what helps you bond with them. And seeing you help them fight the latter at least for a little bit already feels like a huge win.

So far, this has been the job with the most immediate return on investment I have ever done. You don’t have to wait for annual interest to mature, the hugs that they give in return is immediate happiness times 10 because it is real.

As their camp leader, the satisfaction you get every time they win a competition or help someone in need is indescribable.

Within these 10 days that we were in the mountains with kids, I barely had the time to look at my computer or my phone, but even more importantly – I didn’t want to. My life was there, with them, from 8 am until to 12 am, when we were checking if they are fast asleep in their beds.

Games and fun

Oh, and don’t think that the staff didn’t have fun too. The amount of fun stories we giggled at after kids went to sleep will keep me going for another year. Kids do a lot of funny fuck-ups.

I’m glad I went on this camp trip because it proved me wrong: all kids are amazing in their own way, you just have to see it.

Wrap Up

This summer was definitely full of new experiences for me. I learned that if you wish to do things that really matter in the world, you can easily just throw yourself into work with youth. It will be exhausting and it will make you eat you full meals 5 times a day just to have the energy to get you going, but it will so be worth it!

Special thanks to Inna Sokol-Polishchuk and Eurofuture camp for taking me in on their adventure. It is an exceptional way to learn English and make friends for life.

My squad.

FYI: if you are a native English speaker and are looking for a fun work and travel experience in a new country, contact Inna to get placement in a summer camp in Ukraine for the next year. Exceptional views in the mountains and fun time is guaranteed.

XO, Lena

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