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In March of 2022, Sincere Heart Foundation from Lviv, Western Ukraine, started a “Recovery camp” project. It is a programme where children and mothers affected by the war can find psychological help and emotional rehabilitation. These kids have been through a lot: lived in the bomb shelters for weeks, faced death, hunger, lost their friends, relatives and hope, buried corpses with their own hands, fled under shelling, and survived.
Since spring, more than 70 camps for over 2500 families have been held. About 4000 children found new friends, resumed their studies, began to communicate with their peers, and took up a forgotten hobby.
“The themes of their drawings changed, sleep was restored, and they started talking to relatives again. Every week, 60 children join the camp, each with its own story, trauma, needs, and desires. Together with psychologists, teachers, animators, and art therapy specialists, we work with children and mothers in a relaxing format. There, children regain their carefree childhood, find new friends, and mentors, start to dream again and have the inner resource to open up to the goodness and move on”, says Irade Haspolatova, a representative of the Sincere Heart Foundation.
Right now, the Foundation lacks materials for art therapy and gifts for the therapy sessions.
For example, gifts become a motivation to go through all stages of therapy with a psychologist. The project needs up to 300 toys or sweets per week to help all the children. Also, the Foundation asks for colored paper, felt-tip pens, chalk, pastel, clay, threads, plasticine, paints, notebooks, pens, and pencils.
If you want to help the Foundation, you can donate directly to the Foundation website or the TEEI Donation page. The cost of one child rehabilitation in a six-day camp is $310, and in a one-day camp is $50.
The Educational Equality Institute stands with Ukraine and emphasises the importance of children’s rehabilitation during the ongoing war.
Children are not the only ones needing support. Many Ukrainian parents-particularly mothers-are simultaneously navigating displacement while trying to continue working or resume professional careers. The employment barriers facing Ukrainian refugees are substantial, from language gaps to unrecognised credentials. TEEI helps address these through programmes like Language Connect, which provides free 1-to-1 conversation practice, and Mentors for Ukraine, which connects displaced professionals with career guidance from volunteer mentors worldwide.