“It’s a lovely bubble for kids to be kids,” Saracyn said. About a third of the 90 children who attended the camp are Jewish, according to Marta Saracyn, the head of the Jewish Community Center of Warsaw. Many of the Ukrainian kids who arrived in Poland since February finished the Ukrainian academic year remotely but will be entering Polish schools in September.Ĭampers spent afternoons doing arts and crafts, playing sports and making excursions to city museums and parks. Mornings were devoted to Polish, English and math lessons so the children will be in a stronger position to adapt to school. Many Ukrainians realize they won’t be able to go home soon, or perhaps ever, said Helise Lieberman, the director of the Taube Center for Jewish Life and Learning. With the war about to enter its sixth month, the camp at the Lauder Morasha School in Warsaw reflects the type of programming being developed to meet the changing needs of refugees. Local and international Jewish organizations also wasted no time in trying to meet the most urgent needs: to house and feed the Ukrainians, most of whom are women and children. Poland has accepted more of the war’s refugees than any other nation. 24, people across Poland sprang into action to welcome and help refugees from the neighboring country. “And we have a sense of obligation to help people who are suffering right now.”Īfter Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. We suffered pogroms, we suffered the Holocaust and we suffered antisemitism,” Baird said. “Jewish people have suffered so much in the past. This one was pink.īaird, 48, was happy to see cheerful colors and rainbows also emerging in the artwork of other children under her care at the Kef Be Kayitz camp, a Hebrew name that means Fun in the Summer.įor the volunteers, the decision to take time off from their usual jobs in the United States and fly to Poland to work with the Ukrainian children was driven by a desire to help those in need, a value that is universal and a central part of Jewish religious teachings. The program, which ended Friday, was designed to give some joy to youngsters traumatized by war, to help prepare them for a new school year in Poland, and to give their mothers some time to themselves.Īfter performing puppet shows and reading stories to her group of 5- and 6-year-old campers, painting a lot of little faces and dispensing lots of big hugs, the rabbi saw another heart drawing. The girl, sighing heavily, said it was black like the dog she left behind in Ukraine.īaird, who lives in California, volunteered with several other Jews originally from Russia or other parts of the former Soviet Union to mentor Ukrainian refugee children at the camp in Warsaw. Why did she use black and white, and not red or pink, to make a heart, Rabbi Ilana Baird asked the child. WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A 5-year-old girl’s drawing at a summer camp in Poland’s capital caught the eye of one of her counselors.
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